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Sipeteds 


WE ta83b ton anns deh 





Pee ee te eee 








BY THE SAME AUTHOR 


JAMES W. BASHFORD: 
Pastor, Epucator, BisHop 









THE NEW SOUL 
IN CHINA 


BY f 


GEORGE RICHMOND ‘GROSE 


One of the Bishops of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church 











THE ABINGDON PRESS 
NEW YORK CINCINNATI 


Copyright, 1927, by 
GEORGE RICHMOND GROSE 


All rights reserved, including that of translation into 
foreign languages, including the Scandinavian 


Printed in the United States of America 


VIL. 


CONTENTS 


EGREWORDIALI Ue ae 


Toe MEANING OF THE 
PRESENT CIVIL STRUG- 


. Tae Cauristian Move- 


MENT IN CHINA....... 


. THe AnTI-CHRISTIAN 


NVLOVEMENT 6. Gielen gene 


. Wuy MiUISSIONARIES IN 


PRESENT MISSIONARY 
NEOR ATE acer iey aera) ok 


. Tue PLACE OF THE CHRIS- 


oF: 


TIAN CHURCH IN CHINA. 118 


A New Sout In Cuina.. 142 


Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2021 with funding from 
Princeton Theological Seminary Library 


https://archive.org/details/newsoulinchina0Ogros 


FOREWORD 


Tuis little volume of addresses 
is published in response to numerous 
requests at the time of their de- 
livery. The form of direct speech 
has not been’ changed. The 
addresses are published substantially 
as delivered. They are designed to 
present an apologetic for Christian 
missions with special reference to 
present conditions in China. The 
mind of the world respecting the 
things of religion is much the same. 
The same thought currents which 
prevail in Europe and America are 
running strong in Japan and China. 


“East is East and West is West 
And the twain have met,”’ 


and are seriously taking account of 
their common spiritual heritage and 
their mutual obligations. 

7 


FOREWORD 


These pages are sent forth in the 
deep conviction that in Jesus Christ, 
“the Way, the Truth and the Life,” 
Orientals and Occidentals are to find 
“the life which is life indeed.”” The 
writer also cherishes the hope that 
they may quicken interest in the 
cause of Christian missions. If he 
has helped any to see through and 
beyond the strife and confusion 
which now prevail in China to the 
mighty ongoing of Christ toward the 
redemption of the land, and has in- 
spired any to make the high resolve 
that he shall not go alone, the author’s 
purpose will have been richly fulfilled. 

Parts of Chapters I, II, and V 
have appeared in The Christian Cen- 
tury, The Christian Advocate, and 
The Chinese Recorder respectively, 
and the courtesy of reprinting is 
hereby acknowledged. 

GY RaiGi 
Peking, China, March, 1927. 
8 


CHAPTER I 


THE MEANING OF THE PRES- 
ENT CIVIL STRUGGLE IN- 
CHINA 


Waar is the meaning of the pres- 
ent civil struggle in China? To 
many people in the West the present 
wars in China are utterly bewilder- 
ing. To some it appears that a 
people who have been peaceful for 
ages have in the past decade _ be- 
come strangely warlike. To others 
it seems that the Chinese are in- 
capable of self-government and of 
managing successfully their own 
affairs. Still others claim that since 
the overthrow of the Empire in 1911 
the masses of the people have been 
victimized by selfish and unscru- 
pulous war lords and that under 
existing chaotic conditions the only 

9 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


hope of peace and orderly govern- 
ment is through the domination of 
Western powers. Again there are 
others who lay all the troubles of 
the past few years at the door of 
Russian Soviets, who are promoting 
a world-wide revolution against exist- 
ing political and economic order. 
There is doubtless a measure of 
truth in each of these interpreta- 
tions of the situation in China. But 
in no one of them nor in all of them 
combined is to be found the real 
meaning of the present civil strug- 
gle. On the surface it is unques- 
tionably true that militarism has a 
strangle hold upon China. At the 
same time, to the farmer class, which 
constitutes eighty per cent of the 
population, and to the merchant and 
student class the horror of militar- 
ism is becoming increasingly intol- 
erable. It is true that the mass of 
the people have had no experience 
10 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


in self-government on a_ national 
scale. With ninety per cent of the 
population illiterate, it is impossible 
to have a responsible republic set 
up by popular mandate. But it 
does not follow that the way out 
of the present disorder is in some 
form of foreign intervention. It was 
proposed recently at a dinner party 
of panaceists who were dining in 
Tokyo that a group of Western na- 
tions should buy off the war lords 
in China, making each one respon- 
sible to his national purchaser for 
the proper administration of his 
own territory. This naive sugges- 
tion fails to take into account the 
difficulty of delivering the goods 
purchased. It is unquestionably true 
that the Russian Soviets have taken 
a shrewd advantage of a strategic 
opportunity for extending their influ- 
ence in China. But it should be 
remembered that the Chinese are 
11 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


using their Russian friends for a 
purpose, and when that purpose has 
been measurably accomplished the 
“Reds” will likely be dropped. On 
the surface there are still other cross 
currents that are contributing to a 
nation-wide disorder. 

But the real meaning of the civil 
strife which is becoming increasingly 
determined and desperate lies be- 
neath the surface. It is a struggle 
between the North and the South. 
The Yangtze River has become the 
nation-wide battle-line. And the 
issue is at last as clearly defined as a 
battle-line. It is a fight to the death 
between the old autocratic conserv- 
ative regime and the new democratic 
movement: the old order, repre- 
sented by Yuan Shi Kai, Tsao-Kun, 
Tuan Chi Jui, Wu Pei Fu and 
Chang Tso Lin, against the National- 
ists or People’s Party, represented by 


Sun Yat Sen, Feng Yu Hsiang, and 
12 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


the Cantonese. It is militarism and 
special privilege over against Na- 
tional sovereignty and democracy. 
On the one side are war lords with 
armies of hirelings, grown fat and 
powerful, impoverishing the people 
by oppression and cruelties which 
rival the tyrannies of the Dark 
Ages. On the other side, students 
and teachers in the schools and uni- 
versities, the merchants, though often 
intimidated into silence, and the 
Christian population of China in an 
overwhelming majority. The slogan 
of the Northern armies is “Destroy 
the Reds.”” The watchword for the 
Southern forces is “For the cause 
of the people.” The nationalist 
movement has been discredited in the 
minds of many foreigners by excesses 
and crimes which have been com- 
mitted by radicals. But the whole 
movement cannot be damned by the 
use of an ugly word calling it ““Red.”’ 
13 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


The revival of nationalism is the 
most outstanding fact since the close 
of the Great War. Superficial think- 
ing concluded that this world ca- 
tastrophe would bind the nations 
together in a world peace. We fool- 
ishly thought that when the allied 
nations fought together in the 
trenches of Europe the nationals 
would henceforth be brethren. But 
in less than a decade the great dis- 
illusionment has come. Not alone 
are Western nations but the Orient as 
well is being swept by a tidal wave 
of nationality. Inno country of the 
world is the nationalistic movement 
so dramatic and so irresistible in 
its urge as in China. This is due 
to no accident. Until 1911 Chi- 
nese political history had been a 
long succession of dynasties. In a 
dynasty there can be no true na- 
tional spirit. When the dynastic 
rule was thrown off the awakening 

14 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


minds of the country began to be- 
come nationally self-conscious. After 
the Washington Peace Conference 
it became evident to the thinking 
Chinese that China, as the outcome 
of the war into which she had been 
reluctantly drawn, was in a position 
of humiliating weakness among the 
other belligerent nations. The dis- 
crimination of the United States 
government against both Japanese 
and Chinese has intensified the feel- 
ing of Chinese nationalism. But 
most of all the brutal arrogance 
which has characterized the treat- 
ment of China by Western nationals 
has stirred the soul of a proud and 
independent people with a just re- 
sentment. The French Revolution 
was the beginning of a new era for 
Europe. None the less certainly did 
the Revolution in China mark the 
beginning of a movement, again 
threatening the peace of the world. 
Lo 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


The deep significance of the new 
nationalism in China none can 
doubt. It has become so _ wide- 
spread and so imperative in its 
demands as to disturb seriously the 
commerce of Western nations with 
China. The treaties which have 
been honored by China for two 
generations are being challenged and 
not infrequently ignored or violated. 
During the past six years Western 
trade activities, religious, educational 
and all other philanthropic enter- 
prises have been profoundly affected 
by the rising spirit of nationality 
in China. 

The movement has some features 
which are almost melodramatic. A 
few hundred students literally held 
up a whole city. By their prop- 
aganda and colossal assumption in 
dictating political policies they in- 
timidate business firms, chambers of 
commerce, and government officials. 

16 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


In not a few instances brutal cruel- 
ties, outrages against decency and 
justice, and wanton crimes against 
both property and life have been 
committed in the name of national- 
ism. Strikes when there was no 
grievance, boycott against foreign 
nationals, riots and mobs inflamed 
by hireling agitators are disgracing 
and threatening to delay the suc- 
cess of true nationalism in China. 
The national movement lacks wise 
and responsible leadership which can 
command the confidence of the 
masses. The merchant class 1s in- 
different, wishing to be let alone to 
carry on their traffic. The politicians 
for the most part are corruptionists. 
The militarists, with few exceptions, 
are brutal spoilsmen. The students 
in the main are genuinely patriotic 
but lack sober judgment and expe- 
rience in public affairs. But in 
spite of all these weaknesses the 
17 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


national cause in China has in it 
the passion of the early crusades. 
At its bottom there is a mighty 
conviction. It has become to mil- 
lions of Chinese a kind of religion. 
Sun Yat Sen is its living soul. 
Washington is no more the patron 
saint of American liberty, and Joan 
of Arc of France, and Lenin of 
present-day Russia than Sun Yat 
Sen is the embodiment of Chinese 
nationalism. 

The real issue between the North 
and the South as set forth in Sun 
Yat Sen’s “Three Principles of the 
People’ is national freedom and 
power for the service of the people 
of China. Its basal ideas are taken 
from the American Declaration of 
Independence and Constitution. It 
is the people’s revolution. Some of 
its leaders have been unwise in their 
methods. Others have been crim- 
inal in their measures. Some of the 

18 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


alliances have been unholy. But 
with all of its mistakes and sins it 
is the cause of the people, who are 
rising up with a strong national 
consciousness against foreign exploi- 
tation or domination and against 
military tyranny. At bottom it is 
a spiritual revolution. The great 
social and political ideals which 
lighted the fires of the French Rev- 
olution and the American Revolution 
have set China aflame. And the 
fire is unquenchable until the ancient 
tyrannies have been burned up and 
the people have a chance to live 
their own life. After a decade of 
apparently senseless warfare there 
has at last emerged a great na- 
tional issue which 1s stirring the 
people of China with a loyalty they 
have never known before. And be- . 
cause of the deathless devotion which 
is burning in the breasts of students 


and peasants the Revolution is as 
19 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


irresistible in its onward movement 
as the tides of the sea. 

The people of China are told by 
Western nations with an air of 
benevolent paternalism to set their 
house in order. How long will it 
take to fight this issue to a finish? 
How long until the conflict is de- 
cisive? Who knows? We never ask 
how long it took France to break 
the power of a military dictator- 
ship, or the American colonists to 
win their independence. Our only 
concern now is the fact of the 
achievement of the Revolution. So 
it should be with China. Whether 
it requires fifteen years or fifty years 
for the cause of the people to come 
to its own is not the important 
matter. It only matters whether 
democracy wins. 

What is the prospect? I do not 
pose as a prophet. I make no fore- 
cast as to time and persons. There 

20 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


are certain signs of hope that are 
writ large across the sky. 

First, the big battalions are be- 
ginning to destroy themselves. Re- 
cently the staff officers of an army 
division were experimenting with 
eight-inch guns. They tried four 
measures of powder without success. 
With six measures the great gun 
discharged. With eight measures 
the cannon exploded, killing all the 
officers. This tragic incident is a 
parable. The guns of the militar- 
ists are now shooting both ways. 
By a series of treacheries and ill 
fortunes the militarists are gradually 
exterminating each other. The pa- 
tient people are becoming so out- 
raged by the oppressions of the 
militarists that farmers and mer- 
chants will one day rise up and 
declare these selfish wars shall be 
no more. The handwriting is on 


the wall. 
21 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


Another omen of hope is that the 
people are utterly united in the 
nationalist movement. Heretofore 
the interests of China have been 
largely provincial or sectional. Now 
the spirit of nationalism is every- 
where dominant. National aspira- 
tions are shaping the course of all 
commercial, educational, and reli- 
gious activities. When the Chinese 
boycott a foreign nation’s goods, 
the argument has a deadly effective- 
ness. The demand for the registra- 
tion of all private and foreign sup- 
ported schools is interpreted by some 
as being anti-Christian or anti-for- 
eign. In fact it is neither. It is 
only an insistence that all educa- 
tional institutions shall become Chi- 
nese in spirit and conform to the 
national standards of education. It 
is not unreasonable therefore, to ° 
demand that the president or vice- 
president of schools of higher learn- 

22 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


ing should be a Chinese. Religious 
liberty is to be accorded to all 
private or Christian schools so long 
as the primary purpose of the school 
is educational and not religious prop- 
aganda. In short, the schools of 
China are striving determinedly to 
promote true Christian culture and 
are refusing to accept a foreign 
system of education if it is also 
foreign in spirit. 

The nationalist movement is also 
influencing profoundly the work of 
the Christian missions and churches. 
There is a wide demand for an 
indigenous church—that Christianity 
should become naturalized. The 
foreign control of churches and pub- 
lic philanthropies is increasingly re- 
sisted. The statement of Christian 
doctrine and forms of Christian 
worship imported from the West do 
not adequately express the religious 
conceptions and aspirations of the 

23 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


Chinese people. There is much un- 
certainty of mind and much crit- 
icism of the Christian Church in 
China, largely because when this tre- 
mendous intellectual upheaval came 
the Christian movement was not 
prepared to meet the demands of 
the new day. ‘The demand for 
equality of human rights, for indus- 
trial justice, for international fair 
play, and for a chance for the poor, 
have exposed the barrenness of much 
so-called religious work. There is 
no revolt against the missionary 
whose life embodies the spirit of 
Jesus and whose service is personal 
rather than professional. But the 
tremendous needs of this awful time 
in China can be met only by a 
religion that has a mighty spiritual 
dynamic and that is represented and 
presented by men and women who 
have the spirit of Jesus. 

In the deepest sense the struggle 

24 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


in China is a spiritual revolution 
which is shaking the very founda- 
tion of the old social, economic, and 
political order. The people are 
thinking for themselves. They are 
too little inclined to profit by the 
experience of the Western nations 
in their struggles for a true na- 
tionalism. But it is the rising tide 
of a new life; it is the dawn of a 
new civilization. 

What should be the attitude of 
Western nations toward China in 
this crucial time? It should be one 
of strict noninterference so far as 
working out her own internal prob- 
lems is concerned. No form of 
domination by force, no establishing 
spheres of influence by financial 
subsidy, no “‘peaceful penetration” 
can solve the problems of China 
or permanently improve conditions. 
Western nations may rightly demand 
that China protect hfe and prop- 

25 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


erty of nationals so long as for- 
eigners show mutual respect for life 
and property of Chinese. Western 
nations must meet the present situa- 
tion in China with patience and with 
friendly co-operation, at the same 
time trusting the people to work 
out their own national salvation. 
What should be the attitude of the 
Christian churches of the West? 
They should not seek to transplant 
the religious machinery of the West 
unless there is breathed into it the 
life-giving spirit that will minister 
effectively to the moral and spiritual 
needs of the people. The present 
chaotic conditions in China are a 
call to the Christian forces of the 
West to come to her help in build- 
ing up a real living Church of 
Christ. In China, as in America, 
the very existence of supernatural 
religion is being challenged by a 
mechanistic philosophy of life. If 
26 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


the civilization of to-morrow is not 
to be submerged by a pagan ma- 
terialism, and if the new nationalism 
does not defeat itself by selfish ends, 
it must be permeated by the ideals 
and by the creative power of a 
vital religion. A Western member 
of the recent Customs Conference 
and Extraterritoriality Commission 
in Peking, bore this significant testi- 
mony: “The situation in China is 
dark in the extreme. I see only 
one hope. That is in the work of 
the Christian missionaries and the 
Christian Church in laying the moral 
foundations of a true state and a 
new civilization.”” To become im- 
patient and hopeless in the present 
upheaval is to forget the history of 
all the democratic governments of 
the West. For the Christian forces 
of the West to slacken their efforts 
for the evangelization of China in 
this time of unparalleled need is to 
Q7 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


be recreant to their highest trust. 
The present struggle will go on, and 
must go on, until the power of the 
militarist is broken, and the people 
are willing to pay the price of a 
government that is founded upon 
honesty, justice, and freedom. 


28 


CHAPTER II 


THE CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT 
IN CHINA 


Wuat is the present state of the 
Christian movement in China? Any 
adequate answer to this question 
must take into account the present 
conditions of the country. The 
situation is so complex, and the 
changes so rapid, that it is exceed- 
ingly difficult to discern the signs 
of the times. 

It is difficult for Westerners to 
understand the demoralized condi- 
tions that have prevailed in China 
for a decade and a half. The chaos 
was never more widespread than at 
present. The central government 
has but little power beyond the 
Peking Wall. The only government 
that is effective is a type of military 

29 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


feudalism. The people of the coun- 
try are being bled to death by 
military leaders who for the most 
part have no other purpose than 
the gratification of their own greed 
for money and power. Vast sec- 
tions of the country are terrorized 
alternately by invading armies and 
bandits. The great student and 
industrial centers within the past 
few months have been scenes of 
agitation, strikes, boycotts, and riot- 
ous disorder. 

What is the meaning of the un- 
rest and chaos? In the first place, 
the republic was born at least a 
score of years before the people were 
ready for it. They had no back- 
ground in experience to fit them 
for representative government. The 
masses are not only uneducated, but 
are not interested in political mat- 
ters. Their all-absorbing concern is 
the daily struggle for existence. 

30 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


Naturally, under these conditions 
they become the easy prey of venal 
politicians and selfish war lords. 
Secondly, the meeting of the East 
and the West in trade, education and 
religion has called for adjustments 
which are exceedingly difficult to 
make. In his book on Western 
Ciwilizations and the Far East, King- 
Hall well shows that the advance 
of such civilization has of necessity 
created a great upheaval. The forces 
of the Western world which have 
been let loose in China have made 
confusion and chaos the like of 
which has not been seen in modern 
times. The three great forces of 
Western civilization—the intellectual 
awakening, political democracy and 
modern science applied to industrial 
development—which have been at 
work in the Western world for three 
hundred years, have been released in 
China simultaneously within the last 
31 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


fifteen years. It is no wonder there 
are unrest, upheaval, and revolution 
everywhere. The present movement 
is irresistible. It has in it not only 
the dynamic of Western progress, 
but the germinative, creative forces 
of the gospel. The moral standards 
and spiritual ideals of Christianity 
are turning the Far East into a 
topsy-turvydom. But this is the 
hope of the hour. It is the working 
of the leaven of the kingdom of 
heaven. ‘“‘Not all the king’s horses 
nor all the king’s men” can put the 
old order together again. 

Out of this chaos there is emerg- 
ing a clear national consciousness. 
The first problem of China is the 
development of a true nation. The 
country is now in the throes of a 
crude nationalism. A tidal wave of 
nationalistic feeling that is danger- 
ous unless wisely guided, is sweeping 
over the country. China’s pride has 

32 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


been wounded. She has been stung 
into resentment by her own national 
weakness and by the discriminating 
treatment of the Western nations. 
But one thing is increasingly evident 
—the day of Western domination in 
politics and in business, in education 
and in religion has passed forever. 
China and Japan are determined to 
live their own life, and that is their 
right. Under the terrific tension of 
the times it would be strange if 
there were not blunders and excesses 
and even crimes committed in the 
name of freedom. But we do well 
to remember that the historic path 
of human progress has always been 
“from authority through anarchy 
into insight and freedom.” 

With the normal foreign trade of 
the country demoralized, with all 
the railway lines commandeered for 
military uses, with the central gov- 
ernment financially bankrupt and 

33 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


cabinets continually changing, with 
the helplessness and suffering of the 
people ripening into desperation, na- 
turally the work of the schools and 
the churches is seriously hindered. 
The Christian enterprise in China 
faces greater difficulties than ever 
before. Not even the Boxer up- 
rising in 1900 presented so grave a 
crisis as that which now confronts 
the Christian forces in China. 

Pass in a hurried review the hin- 
drances to the evangelization of 
China which are most formidable: 

1. A rapidly rising tide of na- 
tionalism which tends to subordinate 
everything else to national interest. 
Some preachers are preaching patri- 
otism rather than the gospel, in the 
conviction that Christianity cannot 
make headway until the government 
is stabilized. 

2. A current of materialistic think- 
ing which discredits all religion as 

34 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


either unnecessary or as a supersti- 
tion. The prevailing skepticisms of 
young China to-day are a kind of 
chop-suey of the materialistic philos- 
ophies of America and Great Britain 
in the latter half of the nineteenth 
century. 

3. Failure to adjust missionary 
methods to meet changing conditions 
so as to insure sympathetic co- 
operation of Chinese and foreigners. 

4. The malicious misrepresentation 
of Christian missions as being allied 
with foreign powers politically, or as 
serving foreign economic interests. 

5. The lack of suitable Christian 
literature to instruct educated people. 

6. The failure of some missionaries 
to appreciate Chinese culture and to 
seek to give to Christianity a truly 
Chinese expression. Christianity has 
not yet been naturalized in China. 
The Chinese think of it as a foreign 
religion. 

35 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


7. The divided front presented 
by denominational divisions and 
especially by intolerant doctrinal 
controversies. ‘The fundamentalist- 
modernist controversy is_ tenfold 
more harmful to the Christian cause 
in China than the anti-Christian 
movement can possibly be 

8. The unsettled political and 
economic conditions of the country, 
producing unrest and untold suffer- 
ing among the people. 

9. The opposition aroused by 
Christianity’s attack upon the moral 
evils which are strongly intrenched 
by social custom, ancient tradition, 
and financial income. 

10. But the greatest barrier of all 
to the progress of Christianity in the 
Orient is the association of Chris- 
tianity in the minds of the Orientals 
with the deeds of Western nations 
and nationals, that outrage both 
decency and justice, to say nothing 

36 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


of religion. The shame of Judas 
Iscariot in betraying his Lord for 
silver is heavy upon the body of 
Christ’s disciples in China until this 
hour. 

In the face of these difficulties one 
cries out in helplessness, ““Who is 
sufficient for these things?” Hu- 
manly speaking the task of effec- 
tively evangelizing China was never 
so difficult as it is to-day, and at 
the same time the task was never 
so challenging as now. 

There are signs which are big 
with promise. 

1. The intellectual awakening 1s 
furnishing both the field and the tools 
for the greatest religious revival of 
modern times. The mind of China 
is clamorous for knowledge. The 
masses are learning to read. Leaflets 
and tracts are the favorite forms 
of propaganda for every cause. The 
conditions are ripe for such a reli- 

| 37 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


gious movement in China as the 
Wesleyan revival of the eighteenth 
century. But the religious move- 
ment in China must be in line with 
the great thought currents of the 
day. Just as the Renaissance and 
Reformation in Europe re-enforced 
each other, so the Christian faith 
must seize upon all that is fruitful 
in the present intellectual awaken- 
ing. No great revival of religion in 
the history of Christianity has ever 
run counter to the main currents 
of human thinking at the time. 
Just as Luther embodied in his 
religious movement the intellectual 
freedom dominant in his age, and 
as Wesley incarnated in the revival 
of the eighteenth century the spirit 
of individualism and_ brotherhood 
which throbbed violently in the 
French Revolution, so China is 
speaking the language of the great 
social ideals and_ scientific truths 
38 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


of the twentieth century. A keen 
present-day writer observes that 
any worth-while religious movement 
must express itself in the thought 
forms of to-day, otherwise it will 
not produce the needed revival. It 
is true in China. It is utterly futile 
to-day to try to “galvanize into 
life the old dogma of an inerrant 
Bible,” or to preach with intolerant 
dogmatism the doctrine of the virgin 
birth and antiscientific theories of 
nature. Whether these beliefs are 
true or false is not the point at issue. 
They are not the path of approach 
to present-day Chinese thinking. 
The gospel preached in terms of 
medieval thinking does not get un- 
der the skin of the Chinese. 

This does not mean that Chris- 
tianity must conform its teaching to 
the levels of the present-day world, 
or that it must preach an accom- 
modated gospel suited to the caprices 

39 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


of men’s thinking. It does mean 
that Jesus Christ must be inter- 
preted to the Chinese in the thought 
terms of their own world. And if 
the divine message is spoken in 
terms of the thinking and feeling 
of China, the mind of the people is 
wide open to the gospel. No nation 
in the past half century has pre- 
sented a more fruitful soil for a 
revival of true religion than China 
in her present mood. The present 
opposition to Christianity, be it 
remembered, is not an attack upon 
the moral principles or spiritual 
ideals of the Christian religion. It 
is opposition to the excrescences of 
the Christian faith and to the tra- 
ditions of men which have been 
proclaimed as the oracles of God. 
It is a just resentment toward 
the arrogance of Western nationals 
assuming their own superiority and 
baptizing it with missionary respect- 
40 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


ability. China is thinking in terms 
of modern science and the new 
freedom. The intellectual awakeness 
of the people makes this the favored 
time for God’s visitation. 

2. Another hopeful factor in the 
religious situation in China is the 
central place which ws being given to . 
Jesus Christ an the thinking of the 
people. When the gospel message is 
preached in China in its New Testa- 
ment simplicity—personal loyalty to 
Jesus Christ—there is a new enthusi- 
asm for the Christian faith. When- 
ever Christianity is interpreted in 
terms of the loyal following of Jesus, 
there is a new interest in its mes- 
sage. When Jesus Christ is pro- 
claimed as “the power and _ the 
wisdom of God” Christianity has 
nothing to fear from competition 
with the other religions of the 
world. 

There is a revival of Buddhism 

41 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


and the other religions of China. 
Societies are being formed for the 
development of an eclectic system 
of religion which seeks to combine 
the best there is in all religions. 
These movements are not enlisting 
large numbers of students and of 
the thinking classes of China. When 
they see the perfect love of God 
revealed in the perfect life of Jesus 
he is being hailed as the hope of 
the nation. The figure of the strange 
Man on the cross is still the ever- 
lasting symbol of human redemption. 
In spite of the bitter anti-Christian 
feeling the sale of Bibles in China 
in 1924 exceeded that of any pre- 
vious year by two and a half million 
copies. Last year the sale of Bibles 
exceeded the figure of the previous 
year. I have never witnessed any- 
where in student audiences in Amer- 
ica a more earnest response to the 
message of the gospel than in the 
42 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


schools and universities of North 
and West China. 

Beyond the pale of the churches 
and the regular channels of Christian 
effort the ideals of Jesus Christ are 
permeating society. The steady, 
silent infiltration of Christian truth 
in circles outside the church is doing 
quite as much for the redemption of 
China as direct Christian efforts are 
doing. Judged by every test, the 
dominant moral and spiritual force 
in China to-day is Jesus Christ. He 
alone is leading an aggressive move- 
ment for the freedom of the people. 
His principles of living are being 
recognized more and more as final. 

3. The moral mood of the country 
is favorable for a great religious 
awakening. ‘The people view with 
increasing concern the ravages of 
vice, of official corruption, and of 
the opium traffic. China is waiting 
for an Isaiah or an Amos to arise 

43 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


with a vision of God’s will concern- 
ing Peking and China. A prophet’s 
voice that will denounce the sins of 
the present and advocate the rights 
of men as men, that will expose the 
hell of the opium traffic in spite of 
international complications, that will 
denounce as intolerable every form 
of discrimination in the family of 
nations, and that will champion the 
cause of justice and freedom and 
religion as the only foundation of 
public welfare—for such a prophet’s 
voice China is waiting to-day. 

4. I see on the horizon a fourth 
hopeful omen. Underneath all the 
present movements in China is a 
strong undercurrent of spiritual 
expectancy. There is profound dis- 
trust of the material forces for the 
bringing in of a better day. Chinese 
Christian leaders are becoming in- 
creasingly dissatisfied with a church 
which is primarily an organization 

44 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


for the promotion of denominational 
policies, for the safe-guarding of 
doctrinal statements, or for the 
furthering of philanthropic enter- 
prises. They are calling for the 
New Testament Church—an insti- 
tution of love—a society for spiritual 
fellowship. Such a church is indis- 
pensable in breaking down the bar- 
riers of racial prejudice and in 
building up a new civilization. Such 
a church will protest against every 
form of selfish nationalism, because 
God hath made of one blood all the 
nations of the earth. The Church of 
Christ in China already promises to 
give back to Western Christianity a 
fuller understanding of the matchless 
Christ. With its own distinctive 
contribution of religious faith and 
feeling it will enrich the life of the 
Christian Church of all nations. 

To sum up, this is the promise of 
Christ’s greater coming in China: 

45 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


An intellectual awakening which is 
furnishing both the field and the 
tools of the greatest religious revival 
of modern times; the mind of Christ 
becoming more and more dominant 
in the thinking of the people; Chris- 
tian discipleship being redefined in 
terms of personal loyalty to Jesus; 
the moral mood of the country call- 
ing for justice and righteousness in 
the land; and, lastly a living church 
discovering its apostolic mission in 
promoting the things of the Spirit 
rather than dispensing material 
bounties in the name of religion. 
Furthermore, the whole social sys- 
tem of the country is being per- 
meated by the moral convictions and 
spiritual hopes of Christianity. The 
vast changes taking place to-day 
have at their center the mighty 
dynamic of the gospel. Already the 
voices of true prophets of God are 
heard in the land calling their people 
46 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


to repentance. Already the barren- 
ness of materialism, the despair of 
atheism, and the degradation of 
paganism are their own sufficient 
indictment. If Jesus Christ is ex- 
alted so that the people see in him 
“The Master Light of all their see- 
ing,’ the outlook for the Christian 
movement in China was never so 
bright as it 1s to-day. “In him was 
life; and the life was the light 
of men. And the light shineth in 
darkness, and the darkness compre- 
hended it not.”’ China will yet be 
his. 


47 


CHAPTER III 


THE ANTI-CHRISTIAN 
MOVEMENT 


THE most serious attack that has 
been made on Christianity in the 
past one hundred years Is the present 
anti-Christian movement in China. 
To many it came as a great sur- 
prise. Why should it be? Persecu- 
tion is no new thing in the history 
of the Christian faith. ‘‘Christian- 
ity has ever been a suffering reli- 
gion.” Its Founder died by the 
hands of violent men. The first 
missionary apostle came from the 
ranks of the persecutors. Tertullian 
recorded not only the experience of 
the church in his own day but also 
the history of fifteen centuries of 
Christian believers when he wrote: 

48 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


“Go on; rack, torture, grind us to 
powder; our numbers increase as 
ye mow us down. The blood of 
Christians is their harvest seed.” 

There have been three stages of 
opposition to Christianity in China. 

The first was the opposition of 
ignorant villagers when the first 
missionaries began their work. There 
followed a long period of indifference 
to the preaching of the gospel, espe- 
cially on the part of the intelligent 
classes. The new religion seemed 
harmless and was therefore generally 
ignored. 

The second stage of opposition to 
Christianity was directed by the 
official classes. The officials in China, 
becoming alarmed at the threatened 
encroachments of foreign nations 
upon their country, instigated fanat- 
ical mobs in the Boxer uprising 
of 1900. 

The present anti-Christian move- 

49 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


ment originated in the intellectual 
group. The movement began in- 
tensively in 1922 as a reaction to 
the World Student Christian Fed- 
eration which met in Peking. When 
the students of China saw in the 
World Student Christian movement 
the extent and virility of Christianity 
among the thinking classes of the 
world, they organized to protect the 
culture of China against its further 
aggressions. Their first attack was 
against all religions as being either 
unnecessary or superstitious. The 
movement revived again after the 
Nanking Educational Conference in 
the summer of 1924. This second 
attack was directed particularly 
against Christianity. It was led 
chiefly by students. But within the 
past three years the movement has 
enlisted the industrial classes and 
not a few of the intellectuals. Lat- 
terly the movement has become 
50 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


hydra-headed with a strange ad- 
mixture of dissimilar motives. 

The underlying causes and mo- 
tives of this widespread and violent 
attack upon Christianity should be 
carefully studied. It cannot be dis- 
missed lightly. It is a large factor 
in creating the most difficult situa- 
tion which has confronted the Chris- 
tian movement in the past century. 
Its reactions will be profoundly felt 
throughout Christendom. 

The movement has several con- 
tributing causes. 

1. First, a misunderstanding of 
what real Christianity is. The 
essential teachings of Christianity 
have been confused with nonessen- 
tials in doctrinal statement. Denom- 
inational shibboleths, intolerant doc- 
trinaires, and religious faddists are 
to no small extent responsible for a 
serious misunderstanding of true 
Christianity. Christianity is com- 

51 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


monly represented by the anti- 
Christians as being opposed _ to 
modern science. Dayton, Tennes- 
see is known to every Chinese 
student. The Christian faith is 
charged with attacking China’s social 
system, and seeking to substitute 
the ideals and the customs of the 
West. The effect of Christian edu- 
cation, it is claimed, is denational-: 
izing the youth of China. The 
Christian Church is also declared to 
be in league with capitalists for the 
economic exploitation of China 
and for the furtherance of the 
aggressions of foreign powers. A 
representative of the municipal gov- 
ernment in Canton said: “The anti- 
Christian movement is not opposi- 
tion to Christianity but opposition 
to Christianity as dominated by 
commercial and imperialistic mo- 
tives. The missionary comes to 
China with a Bible in one hand 
52 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


and a package of free cigarettes in 
the other.” Thus Christianity is 
charged with the total impact of 
the West upon the East, commercial, 
educational, and political. The most 
fruitful source of all the popular 
misunderstandings of the Christian 
religion is a blind prejudice and a 
complacent conceit which pass by 
on the other side and refuse to in- 
vestigate. 

2. In the second place the methods 
of the Christian schools have been 
interpreted as an attempt to force 
Christianity upon the students. Re- 
quired courses in the Bible or in 
religious subjects and compulsory 
attendance upon religious worship 
are strongly resisted in the schools. 
Not even some of the teachers of 
religious courses have discovered that 
part of the opposition may grow 
out of the dull and profitless way 
in which their subject is being taught 

53 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


rather than out of the total per- 
versity of the Chinese students. 

3. Another cause of the anti- 
Christian agitation is the intellectual 
awakening which is promoting wide 
reading and independent thinking. 
The honest questioning which is 
developed by the study of modern 
science, which is a healthy sign of 
intellectual growth, may, in a pagan 
atmosphere without wise guidance, 
become cynical and destructive un- 
belief. Furthermore, the revival of 
interest in China’s ancient culture 
has led some minds to the mistaken 
conclusion that the Chinese classics 
are opposed to the Sacred Scrip- 
tures, and that the teachings of 
Mencius and Confucius are to be 
arrayed against the teachings of 
Moses and Jesus. 

4. There can be no doubt that 
the most alarming cause of the 
attack upon Christianity is found in 

54 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


the faulty lives of Christians and 
in the superficial work of the Chris- 
tian Church. In the desire to mul- 
tiply converts, and to build up 
organizations, and to promote inter- 
ests, men have been brought into 
the church who lacked both decent 
morality and true piety. Christian 
schools in pride of numbers and 
under financial stress have sometimes 
failed to create and to maintain an 
atmosphere that is distinctively and 
positively Christian. It is a sobering 
fact that not a few violent anti- 
Christian leaders have come out of 
the Christian schools. 

5. Probably the most violent at- 
tack that is made against organized 
Christianity comes from the sus- 
picion of the motives of the Christian 
movement. The church is identified 
with Westerners. Christianity 1s 
thought of as a foreign religion, for- 
getful of the fact that it is no more 

55 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


a foreign religion than electricity is 
a foreign force. The charge that 
Christianity is but a part of the 
system of Western political and com- 
mercial propaganda has been cap- 
italized with a singular effectiveness 
by Soviet emissaries. These ma- 
ligners of religion have taken shrewd 
advantage of the psychology of the 
nationalistic movement to the serious 
hindrance of Christian evangelism. 
6. The anti-Christian movement in 
its present extent and _ bitterness 
would not be possible without the 
thought atmosphere favorable to its 
growth. Its background is in the 
naturalistic philosophy prevalent to- 
day. The mind of Young China is 
being soaked in the mechanistic 
philosophy, and in the _ behavior 
psychology which undermine the 
foundations of all supernatural reli- 
gion. The most dangerous anti- 
Christians are those who are being 
56 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


trained in the philosophic material- 
ism of the universities of England 
and America. 

While there are these several con- 
tributing causes to the present attack 
upon Christianity, it should be borne 
in mind that in recent months the 
movement is taking on new aspects. 
In one place it centers chiefly in 
personalities. In another it is anti- 
foreign. In another it is jealousy 
of the success of Christian schools. 
In still another it is hireling Bol- 
shevism supported from abroad. 
Lastly, there are honest doubters, 
who, witnessing the failure of the 
church to take seriously the teach- 
ings of Jesus and to reproduce his 
life of love, conclude that Chris- 
tianity is not what China needs to 
build up the right kind of civiliza- 
tion for the present generation. Be- 
cause of the complexity of the forces 
operating in the anti-Christian move- 

57 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


ment Christian believers must face 
it with the greater seriousness. 

How is the Christian Church to 
meet this attack? 

1. With honesty and generosity of 
mind. Not by meeting attack with 
counter attack, but in the spirit 
of open-minded search for the truth. 
Let the Christians of China, both 
native and foreign, humbly confess 
their faults in personal conduct and 
their failures in Christian work. 
By honest inquiry, set about finding 
the mistaken methods and removing 
the defects in plans. Make an end 
frankly of pious bluff and arrogant 
pretense. Remove misunderstanding 
of the Christian religion by intelli- 
gent information and by holy living. 
Generously recognize and utilize the 
work of the ancient culture of China 
for the interpretation and for the 
furtherance of the gospel of Christ. 
The best there is in Confucianism 

58 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


and Buddhism will not detract one 
whit from the truth and grace of 
Him ‘“‘who in all things has the 
pre-eminence.” 

2. The anti-Christian movement 
must be met by more enlightening 
and more earnest preaching and 
teaching the Christian evangel. 
There is a great dearth of literature 
adapted to the instruction of the 
thinking classes in the essentials of 
the Christian faith. Christian con- 
verts in China are not to be made 
by exhortation but by instruction. 
The country is being literally sown 
with tracts and pamphlets, and the 
city walls are being plastered over 
with posters containing poisonous 
and extravagant attacks upon Chris- 
tianity and upon foreign nations. 
There is need of a great program 
of Christian education, interpreting 
in a direct and telling manner the 
essentials of the Christian faith and 

59 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


the aims of the Christian Church. 
There is need too of a rational 
philosophy to offset the naturalism 
and behaviorism and _ Russellism 
which furnish the intellectual back- 
ground of the present anti-Christian 
movement. 

3. This attack on the Christian 
faith must be met with certain 
confidence in the victory of the 
Christian cause. ‘No one is really 
a Christian,” declared a Christian 
Chinese, “who does not believe in 
the victory of Christianity.” Christ 
has overcome the world and his fol- 
lowers are to share and to extend 
his victory. If Christianity were a 
doctrine alone, it could be discredited 
for a time. If it were only an 
organization, men could destroy it 
or supplant it. If Christianity were 
a mere ceremony or intellectual sys- 
tem, they could dispense with it. 
But it is a life—the life of Jesus 

60 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


Christ in a man, in a group of men, 
in a nation. And because that Life 
was the light of men shining in the 
darkness, the darkness has not over- 
powered it. It cannot. 

The anti-Christian movement is 
the brightest spot on the horizon 
to-day. Why? 

First, because it is focusing the 
attention of China on Jesus Christ. 

The gaze of the people is riveted 
on Him as on no other. The name 
of Jesus is appearing on more printed 
pages and is being pronounced by 
more lips in China daily than is 
any other name. 

Furthermore, this attack upon 
Christianity brings the Christian 
forces into close grips with their 
real problem, namely, making life— 
all life—genuinely Christian. The 
Christian faith is in competition 
with the other religions of Asia. 
Christianity is challenged to show 

61 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


its uniqueness and superiority in 
comparison with the religions of 
China by its fruits in men’s lives. 
Nothing is to be feared by the 
Christian forces from the revival 
of Buddhism and Confucianism. The 
moral teachings of Confucius and 
the stress of Buddhism on subjec- 
tive experience may be used to 
promote the Christian faith rather 
than to supplant it. There are 
many independent religious move- 
ments searching for the _ spiritual 
elements in life, looking for the best 
there is in all religions, and turning 
men’s thoughts from things to the 
inner life. These also are the allies 
and not the enemies of the Chris- 
tianity movement. At the ‘same 
time it must be borne in mind that 
the issue between Christianity and 
all other religions is clear-cut. The 
issue is whether Christianity as pre- 
sented by the Western church is 
62 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


superior to the religions of the East, 
whether the lives produced by the 
religion of Jesus are like the life 
of Jesus, and whether Christian 
civilization as developed in the West 
is what China wants and needs. 

Already the opposition to the 
Christian movement is making for 
the furtherance of the gospel. It 
is leading honest minds to study 
for themselves the Christian faith. 
In response to the challenge of the 
Christian, ““Come and see,” Christ 
is being exalted in China to-day as 
never before. 

One of the student leaders of the 
anti-Christian movement in Peking 
was led to visit a Bible class and, 
as the result of his search for the 
truth, became an earnest believer. 
One of the leading generals in the 
army in Szechuen was attracted by 
the antagonism to the Christian 
Church and began to investigate all 

63 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


its activities in the community. On 
Christmas day he declared in the 
presence of a great gathering his 
confidence in the Christian people, 
and pledged his protection and sup- 
port. The persecution of the Chris- 
tians is proving to be a clarion call 
to the Chinese to contend earnestly 
for their faith. 

In Chengtu, West China, on 
Christmas day mobs filled the streets 
in front of several churches and for 
more than five hours by jeers and 
shrieks sought to intimidate the 
worshipers who were entering or 
leaving the churches. A few days 
later after the close of the Annual 
Conference session, the pastors and 
teachers held an all-day meeting, 
forming an organization for aggres- 
sive evangelism. Soberly facing the 
danger which threatens them, they 
provided for raising from their mea- 
ger income a kind of insurance fund 

64 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


for the relief of the families of any 
who might lose their lives in defense 
of the faith. The Christian Church 
in China, by this persecution, is 
being purified, revitalized, and 
trained for a great forward move- 
ment in spiritual conquest. 

The anti-Christian movement 
sounds a clarion call to the Church 
of Christ in China and throughout 
the world. It is a call to preach 
Jesus Christ as Saviour and Master 
and Lord of all life. It is a call to 
preach the gospel in the terms of 
China’s thinking and feeling. It is 
a call to live holy lives such as will 
fitly present and represent Jesus to 
men. It is a call to complete that 
which is lacking in the sufferings 
of Christ, remembering ever that 
“Christianity is a suffering religion.” 
It is a call to bring every sphere 
of life—industry, government, inter- 
national relations as well as personal 

65 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


conduct—into the domain of Christ. 
It is a call to believe with joyful 
confidence in the complete and final 
victory of Him at whose name 
every knee shall bow, and every 
tongue confess that Jesus Christ is 
Lord to the glory of God the Father. 


66 


CHAPTER IV 


WHY MISSIONARIES IN 
CHINA? 


A LITTLE more than a decade and 
a half ago a young professor in the 
University of Strassburg resigned 
his chair to become a medical mis- 
sionary in Africa. It seemed in- 
credible that Dr. Albert Schweitzer, 
who had already become eminent 
as an author and as a musician, 
should abandon the world of letters 
and art to go into the heart of the 
Dark Continent as a medical prac- 
titioner. What was it that led this 
renowned musician to exchange his 
organ-seat for a scantily equipped 
hospital in darkest Africa? In his 
fascinating volume, On the Edge of 
the Primeval Forest, and in his illu- 
minating studies in philosophy and 

67 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


religion we discover the secret of 
his heroic career— 
““Desperate tides of the whole great 
world’s anguish 
Forced through the channels of a 
single heart.” 


This is the story in his own memor- 
able words: 

“The operation is finished, and in 
the hardly lighted dormitory I watch 
for the. sick man’s awakening. 
Searcely has he recovered con- 
sclousness when he stares about him 
and ejaculates again and again, ‘I 
have no more pain!’...His hand 
feels for mine and will not let it go. 
Then I begin to tell him and the 
others who are in the room that it 
is the Lord Jesus who has told the 
doctor and his wife to come to the 
~Ogowe, and that white people in 
Europe give them the money to live 
here and cure the sick Negroes. 
Then I have to answer questions as 

68 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


to who these white people are, where 
they live and how they know that 
the natives suffer so much from 
sickness. The African sun is shining 
through the coffee bushes into the 
dark shed, but we, black and white, 
sit side by side and feel that we 
know by experience the meaning of 
the words, ‘And all ye are brethren.’ ” 

Every missionary to-day, whether 
in the ministry of teaching or preach- 
ing or healing, is met by the same 
challenge, “Why are you _ here? 
What is the motive and purpose 
of the missionary enterprise? Why 
should you preach the gospel of 
Jesus to the whole world? Do you 
expect the gospel to leaven the 
thought, the will, and the hope of 
all mankind?” 

The cause of world evangelization 
is more seriously challenged than 
ever before. The missionary enter- 
prise is under a fierce fire of crit- 

69 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


icism. Some of this criticism is 
cheap and flippant; much of it is 
honest; but all of it should be 
squarely faced. If this largest for- 
eign philanthropy supported by 
Western nations is a piece of mis- 
guided: sentimentality, 1t is time we 
were finding it out. If Christian mis- 
sions will not bear the light of closest 
scrutiny, I welcome the disclosure. 
There are approximately eight 
thousand Christian missionaries in 
China. By many fellow foreigners 
in the Orient engaged in trade they 
are branded as impractical ideal- 
ists. ““Damned missionaries” is all 
too common an epithet on the lips 
of commercialists in the East. The 
missionaries are accused of disturb- 
ing the peace of a people who are 
satisfied with their own religious 
beliefs; of giving the Orientals stand- 
ards of physical living beyond their 
reach; of mixing into international 
70 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


affairs and complicating the political 
relations of the nations. From an- 
other quarter comes the charge that 
the schools, hospitals, and other 
philanthropies that have been estab- 
lished are only the tools of imperial- 
istic nations wishing to exploit the 
country. The missionary is accused 
of being the advance agent of the 
capitalist, and under a benevolent 
guise seeking to open the doors of 
trade for his fellow countrymen. The 
missionaries, actuated by the complex 
of race superiority, are, it is said, seek- 
ing to transplant Western institu- 
tions and customs to the Orient. 
And then it is claimed that Chris- 
tianity has nothing of permanent 
value to give to the ancient civil- 
izations of the East. A country 
that can produce a Confucius’ and 
Mencius, or a Tagore and Gandhi, 
does not need the gospel of Jesus 
for its salvation. 
waa 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


These are grave indictments. Will 
the facts bear them out? Can we 
justify the missionary enterprise in 
the minds of sober-thinking men? 
Or is it the outcome of religious 
enthusiasm and sentimentality? 

Whatever our final answer to these 
questions may be I am perfectly 
sure that some of the motives that 
were appealed to for the support 
of Christian missions no longer 
awaken any response. We are no 
longer moved by the desperate hope 
of rescuing from a future perdition 
the millions of Christless souls who 
die every year without having heard 
the name of Christ. We have a 
better thought of God, the Father 
of all, than that. Thirty years ago 
we used to hear the call for student 
volunteers to evangelize the world 
in the present generation. Now we 
see that such a plan of wholesale 
evangelism is so utterly superficial 

712 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


as to have but little moral or spir- 
itual significance except to the evan- 
gelist. We are no longer strongly 
moved by the conviction that the 
Western type of civilization is so 
essential to the higher happiness of 
the world that we should seek to 
establish our democratic institutions 
in all the world. In the past eight 
years, since we fought to “make the 
world safe for democracy,’ we have 
found that democracy is not always 
safe for the world. However val- 
uable our social, political, and reli- 
gious Institutions may be to Western 
nations, it is certain that in their 
present forms they are not always 
equally useful to the Orient. 

The Christian missionary is no 
longer to be regarded as the herald 
of a doctrine for men’s salvation. 
His mission is not to give the bap- 
tism of a nominal Christianity, or 
the veneer of Western civilization. 

73 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


Much less is the missionary purpose 
to justify the ambition of a world- 
wide ecclesiasticism. Ardently as I 
believe in the doctrines and _ polity 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
I am sure that the doctrinal state- 
ments and denominational polity of 
Methodism are not essential to the 
spiritual hope of any people. We 
are in bigger business as mission- 
aries than building up a world-wide 
ecclesiasticism. In short, we are 
not in China to extend an ecclesi- 
astical system, to transplant West- 
ern institutions and customs, or to 
propagate a set of rigidly fixed reli- 
gious beliefs. 

What, then, has the missionary to 
give to China that is distinctive 
and everlastingly worth while? My 
answer is Jesus Christ. To make 
known to the Chinese “the un- 
searchable riches of Christ” is the 
unique and glorious task of the 

74 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


Christian missionary. The value of 
the missionary enterprise depends 
entirely on our appraisal of Jesus 
Christ. Christian missions center 
around the personality of Jesus. If 
he is the “fairest among ten thou- 
sand, the one altogether lovely’’; if 
there is “no other name _ under 
- heaven given among men by which 
we may be saved”; if “in all things 
he has the pre-eminence’; if “‘he is 
all in all’; if he is the Son of God 
and the power of God; if he is the 
life of men and the “light of the 
world,”’ he is the all-sufficient reason 
for the missionary enterprise. Our 
faith in Christian missions is just 
as big, and no bigger, than our 
faith in Jesus Christ. If he is the 
best I know, if he is the surest way 
to the feet of God, if in him I find 
the fullest, richest life, by all the 
compulsions of my own experience 
of his worth and power, I must 
75 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


preach his gospel to every creature 
in all the world. Because I believe 
that Jesus is indispensable to the 
East and to the West alike, I be- 
lieve that Christianity is essentially 
a missionary religion. 

There are three fundamental needs 
of East and West and of men every- 
where. They are the great basal 
human needs, which stand out with 
arresting vividness in the Orient. 

First, Truth for the interpretation 
of life. ‘There are some questions 
that will not down. They must be 
answered anew by every generation 
for itself. Each of us is confronted 
every morning afresh with such ques- 
tions as these: What is God like? 
Does he care for my little life? 
What meaning and value has my 
lifep Why am I in the world? 
What am I in the world for? What 
may I hope for in this world? Is 
there some power by which every 

76 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


man can conquer evil and find peace 
in struggle and comfort in sorrow? 
Can life for the individual and for 
the multitudes be made permanently 
worth-while and satisfying? Does it 
issue in anything beyond the grave? 
These are the great questions for 
all religions and for all time. 

Jesus has an answer—the best 
answer that I can find in the great 
religions of the world. His answer 
is, “I am the Truth.” His daring 
claim has been vindicated by the 
experience of sixty generations. The 
title given him by his own genera- 
tion—the Great Teacher—has been 
acclaimed by twenty centuries. His 
words have been recorded in the 
New Testament by a half dozen 
writers. Their influence is out of 
all proportion to their volume. They 
can all be repeated in forty minutes. 
They would make an average mag- 
azine article in length. The volume 

V7 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


of his teaching is far surpassed by 
that of Confucius and Plato, of 
Buddha and Mencius. Jesus was 
not a formal teacher or platform 
lecturer. He wrote no book. He 
founded no system of philosophy. 
And yet his words concerning God 
and human duty and destiny have 
taken hold of the mind and imag- 
ination of men for all time. While 
other teachers have been outgrown 
there is perpetual vitality in the 
teaching of Jesus. To men of all 
races with different cultures and 
customs the gospel of Jesus comes 
giving rational meaning, infinite 
worth, and eternal hope to human 
life. Judged solely by its own self- 
evidencing truth Christianity is the 
inalienable birthright of every hu- 
man soul. 

But why should Christianity claim 
superiority among all the religions 
of the world? Because of Jesus’ 

18 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


answer to fundamental human need. 
Let every religious faith be judged 
by the way it meets the appeal of 
the universal human heart. It must 
stand or fall by the fruit of its truth 
in men’s minds and by their expe- 
rience of its power in their lives. 
The Greco-Oriental religions say 
to man: “The world is evil; free 
thyself from the world.” Jesus says: 
“My truth shall make you free; 
work in the spirit of the love of 
God for the redemption of the 
world.” Brahmanism says to man: 
“The world is evil; you must escape 
from its evil by knowledge.”’ Jesus 
says: “You are to conquer the evil 
of the world by faith in God.” 
Buddhism says: “‘Life is full of un- 
fulfilled desire and suffering; find 
peace by self-annihilation.”’ Jesus 
says to man: “I came that you 
might have life and have it abun- 
dantly. In fullness of life is your 
V9 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


peace and triumph.” Brahmanism 
and Buddhism are spiritual religions 
only in ideal. They are religions of 
intellectual compassion. ““They are 
not religions for ordinary men but 
solely for monks.” Christianity is 
the only religion of the good Samar- 
itan. Jesus is the teacher of the 
common people. The popular Chi- 
nese religion says to men: “Find re- 
demption through knowledge; know 
nature and you will find life at its 
highest.’’ But it lacks moral power. 
It has no life that gives deliverance 
from sin and quickens eternal hope. 
It has wealth of ethical culture but 
lacks saving power. The religions 
of the East are formule for explain- 
ing everything. The religion of 
Christ is the power of God for the 
saving of men. “The gospel of 
Christ is not a religion but religion 
itself, in its most universal and 
deepest significance. Christianity 
80 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


penetrates and transcends all knowl- 
edge and brings men into conscious 
experience of things eternal. In a 
world where multitudes have guessed 
about God, philosophized about God, 
and groped after God, Jesus lived 
a life of such self-authenticating 
spiritual grandeur that when men 
try to think about God they can 
say nothing so satisfying and so 
adequate as to say that God Is like 
Christ. The final test of the in- 
herent truth of Christianity is that 
Jesus Christ brings men to the feet 
of God the Father and leaves them 
there. In response to the age-long 
cry of humanity, “Show us the 
Father; that is all we need,” Jesus 
answers: “He that has seen me has 
seen the Father.’”’? And in the rap- 
ture of their own living experience 
for sixty generations men and women 
have been answering back—“My 
Father and my God!’ The ever- 
—6Bl 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


lasting vindication of the Christian 
missionary is that he brings a doc- 
trine of God which is immeasurably 
superior to any other, and truth in 
which men find their highest free- 
dom. The Infinite Father of all, 
sharing with us the shame of our 
sins until they are lost in his for- 
giveness, the Chief of Burden- 
bearers, the Hero and Leader of 
all men in self-sacrifice and suffering 
for our redemption, as being exactly 
represented by Jesus Christ—he is 
our glorious God forever. 

It is worth while going to the 
ends of the earth to make known 
to men a God like that. 

Another great need of the Orient 
which Jesus meets is In showing 
men a way of life which satisfies 
their highest conscience. It was a 
high tribute to the commanding 
quality of Jesus’ life that the earliest 
designation of the Christian religion 

82 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


was “The Way.” The conviction 
of twenty centuries is nobly voiced 
by K. Natarajan, editor of the 
Indian Social Reformer: ““The per- 
sonality of the Master stands before 
the world in compelling grandeur.” 
The everlasting fascination of the 
personality of Jesus is the unap- 
proached moral ideal of his life. 
His declaration, “I am the way’’— 
the new way of living—has never 
been successfully challenged. The 
highest standard by which we can 
measure character is the actual 
life of Jesus. The noblest ex- 
ample of human conduct that has 
been found is the way Jesus went 
about doing good. With all the 
progress which the human race has 
made in ethical codes and in right 
_ jiving, the moral standards of Jesus 
have not been outgrown. Nothing 
that he declared wrong twenty cen- 
turies ago has since been found to 
83 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


be right. The moral judgments of 
Jesus have never been reversed. 
John Stuart Mill, sage of the nine- 
teenth century, was right: ““The best 
rule of conduct for the ordinary 
man is to live so as to have the 
approval of Jesus Christ.” Could 
you find a better rule for any kind 
of man than to test his action and 
motives by the life of Jesus? 
When Charles M. Sheldon wrote 
In His Steps, or What Would Jesus 
Do? who would have dreamed that 
it would have the largest sale of 
any English publication in twenty 
years? The little book had no 
such literary merit as would send its 
millions of copies throughout the 
English-speaking world. The secret 
of its spell was the question of its 
titl—_What Would Jesus Do? That 
question arraigns every man before 
the judgment seat of his own high- 
est standard of conduct. “What 
84 





: 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


would Jesus do if he were where 
I am?” is the most arresting chal- 
lenge ever made to the conscience 
of men. We are making anew the 
discovery to-day that Jesus Christ 
is not to be explained. He is not to 
be admired and wondered at chiefly. 
His kind of life is to be lived. And 
if we are looking to find the best 
pattern after which to fashion our 
own life, where will we find a better 
than Jesus? As soon as a better 
man than the Man of Galilee can 
be found, I am ready to forsake 
Jesus and follow him. But until 
then, 


“Of all mankind I cleave to him, 


And to him will I cleave alway.” 


If you are trying to find prin- 
ciples of conduct by which you can 
rid life of selfishness and cruelty, 
of dishonesty and prejudice; if you 
are trying to rebuild the torn and 

85 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


wasted elements of human society 
into a brotherhood of races and 
nations, what better thing can you 
say to men than to live as Jesus 
would approve? At the close of 
the Washington Peace Conference, 
Viscount Grey declared there is no 
hope for international peace unless 
the nations will act on the prin- 
ciples of Jesus Christ. Cynical 
George Bernard Shaw admits that 
after sixty years of observation he 
sees no way out of the world’s 
misery save the application of 
Christ’s way and will to the prac- 
tical problems of life. Matthew 
Arnold was right, tremendously 
right: “Nothing will do except right- 
eousness, and no other conception 
of righteousness will do except Jesus’ 
conception.”” Dr. Harry E. Fos- 
dick, one of the spiritual leaders 
of the West, voices the _ loftiest 
moral conviction of to-day when he 
86 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


declares, ““The high business of tak- 
ing Jesus seriously is the most 
important task of our time.” The 
moral collapse of Western civiliza- 
tion in the last decade is a severe 
indictment against organized Chris- 
tianity. Institutional religion has 
failed to represent truly the gospel 
of Christ. If the real gospel were 
accepted, it would pull down some 
of the cherished institutions of 
Christian nations. It would make 
war impossible. It would put an 
end to exploiting other people for 
private gain or political power. But 
with all the failures and crimes of 
Western civilization there are vast 
differences between pagan and Chris- 
tian morals in the actual life of 
pagan and Christian natives. And 
Christ makes the difference. The 
high task of the missionary, then, 
is to call upon men to follow Jesus 
Christ. He is to show men the 
87 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


character of Jesus and to help create 
a society dominated by the spirit 
of Jesus. And if the Christians of 
America and China would dare live 
like Jesus Christ, it would not be 
long until China would crown him 
Lord of her millions. 

It is worth while going to the 
ends of the earth to make known 
to men the Man of all the Ages. 

There is a third demand for Jesus 
Christ which none of the great 
ethnic faiths can meet. Men need 
Jesus’ truth for the interpretation 
of life, and his example of right 
living. Even more, they need power 
for new life. Before men can reach 
Jesus’ standard of conduct their 
mind must be renewed, their char- 
acter must be transformed. There 
is upon men everywhere, East and 
West, the sense of moral failure. 
We are conscious that our life is 
weak and thin where it ought to 

88 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


be strong and noble. We lag back 
when we ought to lead in a forward 
march. We fall down when others 
are depending on us to stand strong. 
But in every battle for personal or 
social goodness when Jesus appears 
there goes up a triumphant shout 
of victory. 

The most impressive thing about 
Jesus Christ is not the truth he 
taught, though that has held the 
minds of men _ with increasing 
strength for twenty centuries. It 
is not the character of Jesus, though 
he is the Master of all right living. 
The most impressive thing is his 
power to change men’s lives—to 
make bad men good, with a good- 
ness like his own. For sixty gen- 
erations, men have been coming to 
him with their secrets of sin and 
shame and trouble, and finding for- 
giveness and joy and peace. He 
saves people from their sins. His 

89 





THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


Saviourhood is his unique and un- 
paralleled glory. 

The miracle of character trans- 
formation in China is being repro- 
duced daily. In the Boxer days 
ten thousand Chinese Christians gave 
their testimony in blood that “Christ 
is all in all.”” The second and third 
generations of Christians in China 
present as radiant examples of say- 
ing grace as can be found in any 
land. 

In the first General Christian 
Conference of West China, in 1924, 
there were five hundred delegates 
—the fruitage of fifty years of Chris- 
tian evangelization in Szechuan. A 
hundred Christian students of West 
China Union University sang the 
thrilling chorus, ““The Whole Wide 
World for Jesus.” ‘This was a small 
cross-section of the product of Chris- 
tian missions in the midst of China’s 
millions. 

90 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


Recently a young Chinese taking 
his advanced degree at Columbia 
University came to make his first 
public confession of Christ. He 
was going back to be a_ superin- 
tendent of schools in a large city 
in China. He said: “I want Christ. 
I want Christ because I want spir- 
itual power to serve my people in 
this generation.” 

At the close of a church service 
in Chunking a wrinkled, radiant- 
faced old woman said to the preacher, 
“TI do not know the characters, but 
I have the peace of God in my 
heart.” 

A feast was given by the gentry 
of a large city to a few missionaries. 
One of the guests said to the chief 
magistrate of the city at whose 
side he sat, “What message would 
you lke to speak through me to 
my people in America?” His quick 
reply was: ““Tell them we need your 

91 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


help in our schools and _ hospitals. 
I am a Confucianist, but we need 
your religion.” 

What does China need? A stable 
government? Yes. The extension 
of her system of education? Yes. 
Increased facilities of communica- 
tion? By all means. The full rights 
and privileges of a sovereign nation? 
Assuredly so. A sound policy of 
finance and the raising of her 
economic standard of living? A 
thousand times “Yes.”? The multi- 
plication of hospitals for the arrest 
of disease and suffering? By all 
our human compassions and by every 
sense of the value of human life, 
I answer “Yes.’”? But most of all 
China needs a Saviour. The nation 
is morally bankrupt; the people are 
perishing for lack of a vision of God. 

Why go on? From students and 
from gentry, from the ignorant and 
the learned, from publicists and men 

92 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


of affairs, there comes one testi- 
mony: “China needs Jesus Christ. v 
Christ is her only hope.’? Militar- 
ism and opium are spelling out ruin 
to the nation. Ignorance and super- 
stition like a vast pall hang over 
the land. But the light of Christ 
is shining in the darkness and the 
darkness has not overpowered it. 
Place the light on ten thousand 
thousand human candlesticks, and 
one day, one blessed day, China 
will be his. Jesus Christ is all we 
have to give to China, but he | 
everything. 

It is worth while going to the 
ends of the earth to make known 
to men Christ the Saviour of the 


world. | 
Site GH Heian rircs(onaricsvidn | pene 
China? vf To show men the Infinite 
Father in the face of Jesus Christ; 
to bring men into living fellowship 
with him, the power of a new life; 
93 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


and to proclaim by word and deed 
that all men of all races and nations 
are brethren. 

The Christian missionary stands 
under the indictment of turning 
the world upside down. When 
preaching the Christian message 
means interfering with business that 
makes gain by exploiting the people 
of pagan lands let him plead guilty. 
The gospel everywhere does disturb 
and ought to disturb a social and 
economic order founded on unright- 
eousness. Giving to the Orient the 
truths of modern science is com- 
pletely revolutionizing the domestic 
and industrial life of people, who 
were satisfied with the primitive 
tools and the superstitions of past 
ages. Just so certainly is Chris- 
tianity making a new world in 
standards of physical living, in social 
ideals, in political rights and in 
national aspirations. Jesus’ is the 

94° 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


one voice that is raised in every 
land in behalf of the poor and the 
down-trodden. He is the Friend of 
men. The only power that can 
cope with racialism is the touch of 
Jesus. National prejudices cannot 
live in his presence. Christ, and 
Christ alone, is teaching men the 
secret of living together. In him 
is life. 

There is one vision that haunts 
my sight day and night. I see the 
gaunt and stunted forms of little 
children robbed of the joys of child- 
hood; the joyless and hopeless faces 
of women stubbing along their weary 
way on bound feet; men stooped 
and staggering under loads too heavy 
for beasts of burden to bear; and 
in the features of all, marks of sin, 
disease, suffering, despair. In the 
midst of this welter of human misery 
I see One like unto the form of the 
Son of man. I hear him saying, 

95 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


Mey was an hungered, and ye gave 
me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave 
me drink; I was a stranger, and ye 
took me in: naked, and ye clothed 
me: I was sick, and ye visited me: 
I was in prison, and ye came unto 
me.”? When, Lord? ‘Inasmuch as 
ye have done it unto one of the 
least of these my brethren, ye have 
done it unto me.” If Christ is 
incarnate here in the need of all 
these millions I must answer their 
cry. This is the irresistible appeal 
and apologetic of Christian Missions. 

Why missionaries in China? There 
are not many answers. Only one 
—Christ, Christ, Christ. y 


96 





CHAPTER V 


PRESENT MISSIONARY 
MORALE 


I propose in this chapter to 
interpret the present missionary mo- 
rale. In order that the survey 
might not be questioned as being 
the reflection of a personal mood, 
a letter was addressed to more than 
a score of representative mission- 
aries of seven different denomina- 
tions requesting an answer to the 
following questions: 

1. Do you find the missionaries 
with whom you are in contact dis- 
couraged or hopeful in the present 
situation? 

- 2. Do you find disturbing doubt 
as to the worth-whileness of mis- 
sionary service under existing con- 
ditions? 

97 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


3. If you have found a weakening 
of missionary spirit, to what do 
you attribute it? 

4. Should there be any change in 
the policy of Mission Boards? If 
so, what change? 

The replies are candid and _ illu- 
minating. While expressing different 
points of view, there is_ striking 
unanimity in their appraisal of the 
essential features of the present 
missionary situation in China. 
Guided by these letters and by 
personal contacts with many mis- 
sionaries in different sections of the 
country, the writer aims to interpret 
the present missionary mood. 

It must be borne in mind from 
the outset that there is not one 
missionary mind but many. Dif- 
ferences in personal temperament, 
surroundings, denominational policy, 
and the rapidly changing conditions 
in China make for wide differences 

98 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


in missionary outlook. However, 
there is a strong and steady current 
of missionary thinking which is easy 
to follow. At the same time there 
is much confusion and uncertainty 
of mind concerning the fundamental 
problems of Christian missions. 
Formerly the missionary task seemed 
simple. It was the conversion of 
pagans to faith in Jesus Christ. 
Its chief objective was the baptism 
of converts. The ministry of teach- 
ing and healing was important 
mainly as contributing to the work 
of evangelizing the people. Now, the 
work of Christianizing a community 
or nation is exceedingly complex. 
Schools, hospitals, social and indus- 
trial enterprises are closely related 
to the work of evangelization. The 
closer contacts of East and West, 
the interchange of ideas of different 
nationals, and the nationalistic move- 
ment of recent years have created 
99 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


a new social and intellectual atmos- 
phere for the Christian worker in 
mission lands. The changing polit- 
ical conditions in the Orient and 
the new attitude of Orientals toward 
Western civilization have multiplied 
the problems of the Christian mis- 
sionary. ‘The serious challenge of 
the Christian faith on account of 
unseemly international contacts and 
the spread of a naturalistic philos- 
ophy in the schools and universities 
make the work of Christian evan- 
gelization increasingly difficult. 

Has anything happened to affect 
the morale of present-day mission- 
aries? Many things. 

First, the disturbed conditions in 
the country have been a tremendous 
handicap to all Christian and phil- 
anthropic enterprises. The ravages 
of war and banditry are incessant. 
For the past three years there has 
been a steady growth of the anti- 

100 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


Christian movement. Along with 
the growing appreciation of Chinese 
culture there has developed a severe 
criticism of Western civilization. 
The rising tide of nationalism has 
developed in its extreme forms an 
attitude of disrespect for everything 
foreign. This has made the work 
of the missionary more difficult. 
Under the stress of the popular 
movement in not a few instances 
Chinese students have shown seem- 
ing ingratitude and disloyalty toward 
those who had helped them to every 
opportunity of education and ad- 
vancement. The mission as a for- 
eign organization has been too slow 
in becoming an integral part of 
the Chinese Christian Church. As 
the result of raising up trained 
Chinese leaders and the reasonable 
demand of the church for autonomy, 
administrative positions formerly 
held by foreigners are being trans- 
101 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


ferred to Chinese. The mental 
strain incident to the perils of wars, 
riots, and disease, also isolation in 
the interior, is insidious and con- 
tinuous. Another fact that has had 
to be reckoned with in the past 
few years is the retrenchment in 
work on account of falling income 
from Mission Boards. The heavy 
reduction in working staff, the un- 
certainty of tenure of service, the 
inadequacy of salaries for modest 
comfort and for educating children 
create grave personal problems for 
the missionary. In treaty ports 
and commercial centers there has 
been a constantly widening breach 
between business and missionary 
groups. There are many foreign 
business men in the Orient whose 
personal standards and business prac- 
tices make for international good 
will. On the other hand there are 
those who look upon the protection 
102 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


of foreign trade as the chief duty 
of the Chinese government, and who 
regard the missionary as an un- 
warranted meddler in international 
affairs. The missionary in protest- 
ing against the economic and political 
exploitation of the people with whom 
he labors alienates his own fellow 
countrymen. In addition to all 
these things, the loneliness of life 
in a foreign land among people of 
another tongue with a different social 
point of view, long separations from 
home friends, with the constant 
pull of pagan surroundings, enter 
into the very marrow of missionaries. 

Now, in view of the conditions 
above outlined it would not be 
strange if there were confusion in 
thinking and depression of spirit on 
the part of many missionaries. One 
finds more discouragement among 
the older missionaries than among 
the younger. It is not easy for a 

103 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


benevolent paternalism to pass into 
a true fraternalism. If turning over 
their long cherished work to the 
control of their less experienced 
Chinese associates involves the risk 
of mismanagement, some mission- 
aries seem unwilling to take it. 
And yet this risk must be taken 
by every new generation as it comes 
to its own in responsibility. The 
younger group of missionaries in 
close personal contacts with the 
Chinese are, as a rule, in full sym- 
pathy with the national aspirations 
of the Chinese and are earnestly 
promoting the development of a 
truly indigenous church. One finds 
also a small number of young mis- 
sionaries who have become so en- 
amored of Chinese culture and have 
so fully identified themselves with 
the nationalistic movement that they 
are in danger of losing their identity 
as Christian missionaries. They are 
104 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


only a Western echo of Chinese 
sentiment. They have become such 
ardent advocates of treaty revision 
and the abolition of extraterritori- 
ality and other popular causes that 
their passion in preaching Christ 
and him crucified is burning low. 
Others have not yet found them- 
selves. They have been disillusioned 
concerning missionary life. For a 
time missionary work was danger- 
ously popular. It had a touch of 
adventure with an open road to 
leadership. Now the task is seen 
stripped of all its glamour. Instead 
of professional preferment it means 
patient, self-sacrificing giving of one’s 
best to the training and inspiring 
of Chinese leaders until Christ be 
formed within them. 

But the instances above cited do 
not represent the predominant mis- 
sionary sentiment. Notwithstanding 
the difficulties of their work the 

105 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


great body of missionaries in China 
are not discouraged. They see that 
the task of evangelizing China on 
the quantitative side, with only two 
million Christians among four hun- 
dred millions, is only begun. They 
are calling to the Western church 
in the language of Livingstone 
to the London Missionary Society: 
“Send me anywhere so long as you 
send me forward.” 

Unquestionably, the Christian 
movement in China faces to-day 
a great crisis. The crisis arises not 
from the desperateness of the sit- 
uation but from the magnitude of 
the opportunity. The future of 
Christianity in the Orient for a 
hundred years to come will be 
determined largely by what Western 
churches and nations do in the 
next five years. With the rapid 
unifying of China into a true na- 
tionalism, with the progress of the 

106 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


mass-education movement, with the 
raising up of well-trained Christian 
leaders, with the growing determina- 
tion of Chinese Christians to build 
up a self-supporting  self-perpetu- 
ating church, and with the more 
intelligent hearing of the - gospel 
stimulated by the anti-Christian 
movement, it is only nine o'clock 
in the morning for the cause of 
Christ in China. 

But there is need of a new 
appraisal of missionary work. There 
is need of a new apologetic for 
Christian missions. There is need 
of a clear analysis of the mission- 
ary mind and motive. Four things 
will tremendously strengthen mis- 
sionary morale. 

First, a clearer understanding of 
the real function of the Christian 
missionary. What is his chief ob- 
jective? It is not to proclaim a 
formal doctrine for men’s salvation. 

107 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


It is not to transplant Western 
institutions as indispensable to the 
welfare of the people of the Orient 
except as they may be adapted by 
the people themselves to meet their 
needs. Much less is the task of 
the missionary to give to the East 
the veneer of Western civilization. 
The function of the Christian mis- 
sionary is to interpret the teach- 
ings and spirit of Jesus Christ so 
vitally that he becomes to men 
the power of a new life. The plan 
of foreign missions no longer con- 
templates bringing the whole world 
under the dominion of one vast 
organization, uniform in creed and 
in sacrament. It is, rather, the 
communication to the Oriental world 
of the spiritual tradition and the 
abundant life of Christ. Christian- 
izing a nation does not mean 
denationalizing a people. The Chris- 
tian missionary recognizes “racial 
108 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


differences of thought and _ senti- 
ment’” and undertakes to penetrate 
all the relationships of his world, 
commercial, political, social and 
educational, by the moral energy 
and the spiritual ideals of the 
gospel of Christ. The call of Christ 
to the modern missionary is to seek 
to save the lost—but not alone 
lost souls of a heathen world. The 
world itself—its intellectual achieve- 
ments, its literature, social institu- 
tions, political and commercial in- 
terests—must feel the quickening 
touch and the transforming power 
of the Christian life. The mission- 
ary is a herald of the kingdom of 
God—a social and spiritual kingdom 
which is like leaven hidden in three 
measures of meal, steadily and cer- 
tainly leavening the whole mass. 
To undertake to penetrate the entire 
area of Oriental thought and life 


by the spiritual power of the Chris- 
109 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


tian life is a vastly more important 
task than the mere baptizing of 
converts from paganism. To master 
all the interests and vocations of 
men by the spirit of good will, to 
make Jesus’ ideals of character and 
of service the standards of personal 
and social life, to dominate all the 
institutions of business and of gov- 
ernment by the principles of mutual 
respect and fair play is the only 
objective of Christian missions that 
will stand the test of modern times 
and answer the call of Jesus. The 
essence of the missionary enterprise 
is found in Jesus’ parable of, the 
seed. To put the living seed in 
contact with the soil and air and 
then trust the eternal forces of the 
harvest is the alluring task of the 
Christian missionary. The resistless 
vitality of good men constantly in- 
vigorated by the Spirit of God is 
the sure promise of the world-wide 
110 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


triumph of the gospel of Christ. 
With this interpretation the mission- 
ary enterprise is implicit in the very 
heart of the gospel. It is the supreme 
business of the Christian Church. 
Second, wherever there is lack of 
a compelling conviction of a divine 
vocation there is inevitably a weak- 
ening of missionary spirit. As long 
as the sense of our commission to 
go into all the world and preach 
the gospel to every creature is clear 
and strong there is no discourage- 
ment. As soon as the conviction 
that ours is a spiritual mission on 
which we are sent by the will of 
God begins to die out, the difh- 
culties of the task begin to loom 
larger. The missionary to-day needs 
to soak his mind in the Epistles of 
Paul. The opening salutation of 
every Epistle save one breathes this 
compelling conviction: “I am an 
apostle of the good news of Jesus 
111 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


Christ, not by the will of men but 
by the will of God.” Men may 
not appreciate me but I am sent 
by the will of God. Persecutions 
and perils may await me, but I 
count not my life dear unto myself 
if I may finish the ministry which 
I have received of the Lord Jesus. 
The difficulties may multiply but I 
am ready to preach the gospel in 
the face of danger and of death. In 
the presence daily of his divine com- 
mission the missionary rises above 
discouragement. The divine call to 
evangelize the world is not ob- 
solete. Our missionary consecration 
must be brought up to date. This 
alone will sustain missionary morale. 

Third, there is evident in some 
quarters a weakening of conviction 
as to the unapproachable uniqueness 
of the Christian revelation. The 
apostle Paul’s missionary career was 
born in the inner certainty that to 

112 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


him was given the gracious task 
of making known unto the Gentiles 
“the unsearchable riches of the Gos- 
pel of Christ.”” Unless Christianity 
is something more than one of the 
great religions of the world, mis- 
sionary passion cannot be sustained. 
Unless Jesus Christ is something 
more to us than one of the world’s 
great teachers and leaders, mission- 
ary zeal will burn out. If in all 
things and among all men He has 
the pre-eminence, if he is the best 
I know of all mankind in ideal and 
in power for righteous living, if 
his gospel is the power of God unto 
salvation to every one that believes, 
that conviction is the very life nerve 
of Christian missions. In this faith 
a missionary writes, “I believe the 
spread of the gospel is the most 
important thing in the world.” The 
missionary with this conviction will 
have all the greater hospitality of 
113 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


mind toward the truth of all other 
religions. The fullest appreciation 
of the teachings of Mencius and 
Confucius will only prepare the way 
for the completer revelation of God 
in Jesus Christ. Christianity is 
not the foe of other religions, but 
their fulfillment. Knowing the fail- 
ures of organized Christianity, it 
becomes the Christian disciple to 
be humble. Knowing the culture 
of the Chinese, it becomes the Chris- 
tian evangelist to be _ teachable. 
Whenever he speaks for Christianity 
in contrast with other world reli- 
gions he must do it in meekness of 
spirit and in assurance of the final 
triumph of the Christian faith. 
Other religions in their ethical teach- 
ings closely approach the religion 
of Jesus Christ, evidencing the fact 
that in no time or place has God 
left himself without witness among 


men. But the lack of the great 
114 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


ethnic faiths, the lack for which 
nothing else can atone, 1s Christ. 
They have no Christ, the Saviour 
and Lord, and without him life 
lacks its supreme necessity. This 
unfaltering conviction is the very 
heart of the missionary enterprise. 
When this conviction wavers, mis- 
sionary enthusiasm dies. So long 
as the Christian missionary believes 
with all his heart that “in him was 
life; and the life was the light of 
men. And the light shineth in 
darkness; and the darkness has not 
overpowered it,” so long will the 
Christian faith triumph and_ the 
ehurch will sing its hymns of hope. 

Fourth. Another important ele- 
ment in missionary morale is the 
attitude of Mission Boards and the 
home church. A larger confidence 
on the part of the boards in the 
ability of the workers on the field 
to administer the affairs of their 

115 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


work would be tremendously heart- 
ening. The lack of flexibility in a 
system dealing with persons and 
with human situations at the long 
range of twelve thousand miles 
makes for friction and inefficiency. 
The continued discussion of policies 
of retrenchment or of advance takes 
the very heart out of those who are 
on the front lines eager to push 
forward. Further, if the Mission 
Boards would transfer nine tenths 
of the details of administration of 
mission affairs to the mission 
fields, and would devote the bulk 
of their energies to spreading abroad 
in the home church information that 
is fresh and appealing, and to arous- 
ing the conscience of the church 
to take seriously the great enterprise 
of world evangelization, it would 
make mightily for the strengthening 
of missionary morale. One mission- 
ary who is giving the full measure 
116 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


of devotion writes, not in complaint 
but in a ringing appeal for re-en- 
forcements, ‘“Tell the mission boards 
to ‘buck up’ and send some more 
missionaries.” In short, what is 
needed from the home base to put 
new hope and courage into the 
missionaries is more vision and less 
machinery; more spiritual agony for 
the redemption of men, and _ less 
devising of methods and “setting 
up” programs; more calling the 
church to real consecration to Jesus 
Christ and less reliance upon the 
mechanics of money raising. The 
victory of the cause of Christ depends 
not chiefly but solely upon our faith 
in God. If he lives and leads in lives 
transformed, in minds renewed, in 
social consciousness awakened, and in 
efforts to build a world of righteous- 
ness, we will not fear to follow. “The 
light shineth in the darkness, and 
the darkness cannot overpower it.” 
117 


CHAPTER VI 


THE PLACE OF THE CHRIS- 
TIAN CHURCH IN CHINA 


Is there a real place for the Chris- 
tian Church in China? That de- 
pends upon what the Church is 
and what it has to contribute to 
the spiritual forces of the nation. 
Jesus declaration, “I will build my 
church, and the gates of Hades shall 
not prevail against it,” Is an im- 
pressive utterance. He declares his 
purpose to build in the world the 
Christian Church. His _ prophecy 
concerning its future is, ““The powers 
of evil shall not destroy it.” Ever 
since these memorable words were 
spoken the Christian Church has 
been in existence. It is at the same 
time the most-hated and the best- 
loved institution of mankind. Now 

118 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


perhaps as never before it is the 
storm center of criticism. Men are 
asking with a new eagerness, “What 
is the church? How did it come 
into existence? What is its mission? 
What service is it actually render- 
ing to society? What is to be its 
future?” I purpose to face these 
questions with you very candidly. 
The origin of the Church of Jesus 
Christ is simple. The first genera- 
tion of Christians formed themselves 
into a society to perpetuate the 
teachings and the spirit of Jesus. 
So intense was the personal devo- 
tion of the first disciples of Jesus 
to their Master that they determined 
to keep fresh his memory and to 
carry out his purpose. And so by 
regular meetings, first in private 
houses and later in public places, 
they recalled the words of their 
Lord and celebrated his two sacra- 
ments, baptism and the Holy Supper. 
119 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


The early form of church organiza- 
tion was simply a society of love 
for promoting fellowship with God 
through Jesus Christ. 

During the course of the church’s 
history it has had different forms 
of government; it has expressed its 
teaching in a variety of doctrinal 
statements; it has celebrated the 
Christian sacraments and worship 
with manifold forms and _ rituals. 
But in every generation and under 
whatever name, whether Greek or 
Roman or Protestant, it is one and 
the same Church of Jesus Christ. 

The very existence of the church 
to-day challenges our thought. Here 
is this institution after nearly two 
thousand years of history. It was 
founded in the midst of persecution. 
In every century since, the blood 
of its martyrs has been its harvest 
seed. But in spite of persecution 
which has prevailed until the present 

120 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


it has more members and a greater 
influence in the world to-day than 
ever before. ‘The Christian Church 
is the teacher in morals and religion 
of one third of the population of 
the human race. It is the dominant 
spiritual influence in the most pro- 
gressive nations of the world. It 
commands vast financial resources 
which are being devoted to works 
of mercy and help. 

The church bulks big in the his- 
tory of modern civilization, fostering 
learning, crowning and uncrowning 
kings, promoting philanthropy and 
supporting good morals. Only one 
historian has undertaken to write 
the history of Europe and ignore 
the Christian Church. In doing 
this Gibbon signally failed. Because 
the church is a human institution 
it has made many failures. Its 
members are faulty and sinful men. 
Its methods have sometimes been 

12] 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


mistaken, its ministers sometimes 
selfish and inefficient. But in spite 
of all of its failures it is the one 
institution in the world devoted to 
the spread of faith in a loving God 
and the establishment of a world- 
wide human brotherhood. 

The Christian Church holds a 
prominent place in the New Testa- 
ment. This most reliable historical 
document of the first century is 
hopelessly marred if you leave out 
the Christian Church. Why? Be- 
cause the church is the outgrowth 
of the spirit and teaching of Jesus. 
The church of the New Testament 
is the household of God. It is the 
bride of Jesus Christ. It is the 
body of which Jesus is the living 
Head. It is the instrument for the 
accomplishment of the divine pur- 
poses which were incarnate in the 
life of Jesus Christ. The Christian 
Church is religion organized for the 

. 122 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


spiritualizing of life and for the 
moralizing of human society. 

But this statement concerning the 
history of the church and its sacred 
place in the Holy Scriptures does 
not answer the questions which men 
are asking to-day concerning its 
place in the life of the nation. 
Severe criticism is being heaped 
upon the church as an institution. 
Its enemies declare that its creeds 
are obsolete, that it fosters super- 
stition, that its efforts for human 
welfare are inefficient, that its min- 
isters are selfish, lacking both spir- 
itual vision and moral courage. Its 
foes declare that its work is a 
failure because it has not cured 
the poverty and the misery of the 
world and because it has not abol- 
ished war and established peace 
and good will among the nations. 
And many who do not join in the 
popular clamor of criticism of the 

123 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


church believe we can have religion 
without sacraments and a redeemed 
society without organized religion. 
The question is pressed upon us 
from many sides, ““Why the church?”’ 
First, the church stands for the 
reality and value of the things of 
the Spirit. Its primary task is the 
promotion of spiritual life through 
fellowship with God. Man has a 
spiritual side with aspirations and 
longings which only the sense of 
the Infinite can satisfy. Every 
church building stands as a silent 
witness to the reality of man’s 
inner life. As an institution the 
church ministers to man’s spiritual 
nature by interpreting the truth of 
Jesus and by seeking to perpetuate 
the spirit of Jesus in the lives of 
men. It is trying to make his way 
of life common among men. The 
Christian Church by its teachings, 
its sacraments, and its worship is 
124 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


trying to reproduce the spirit of 
Jesus’ life in every new generation. 
Its alluring task in the develop- 
ment of man’s spiritual life is 
making the sense of God real to 
men. Its unchanging message to 
men is the love of the Eternal 
Father. It proclaims the primacy 
of personal character. It offers to 
sinners the forgiveness of a Divine 
Father. It proclaims faith in God 
as the power by which men are to 
overcome the evils of the world. 
In the midst of the misery and 
despair of the world it bids men 
hope in God, and wait patiently 
for the revealing of the Sons of God. 
When the darkness of death gathers 
about men’s way the final ministry 
of the church is its song of immortal 
hope. The church is evermore say- 
ing to men, “Have faith in God.” 
In every worshiping congregation 
I seem to see a composite human 
125 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


face made up of_all the upturned 
faces before me, wistfully asking the 
preacher, “Can you make God real 
to me?” The young man burning 
with the passions of youth and of 
ambition in the eagerness of his 
face is saying to the preacher, “Can 
you make God real to me?” The 
busy man absorbed in the cares of 
the world has always one question 
of consuming interest, “Can you 
make God real to me?” The old 
man, his work finished, with the 
shadows of life rapidly lengthening, 
sums up all the pent-up longings and 
aspirations of his life in the same 
burning question, “Can you make 
God real to me?” Is there a God 
like Jesus whom men can know and 
trust and love? The Christian 
Church, by its teaching and worship 
and by its manifold ministries to 
human life, is creating an atmosphere 
in which it is easier for men to find 
126 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


God. The church is constantly re- 
minding men of the reality and the 
value of the things which are spir- 
itual. It is ever calling to men 
who are absorbed with the materi- 
alities of life, ““You are souls, souls, 
souls.” The first reason, then, for 
the existence of the Christian Church 
is that it will not let men forget 
God and their kinship to him. 

The second reason for believing 
that the Christian Church is indis- 
pensable is that it has ever been 
the greatest: force for the promo- 
tion of popular education. There is 
no other institution that has had 
so profound an influence in awak- 
ening men’s minds to think for 
themselves and inspiring them in 
the search for truth. No other 
organization has been so potent a 
factor in the education of the masses 
as the Christian Church. No one 
of the ancient classics is comparable 

127 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


in its influence to the open Bible 
in promoting the enlightenment of 
the masses. The translation of the 
Bible into the vernacular of the 
people marked the beginning of a 
new era in the growth of the Ger- 
man Empire. Wyclif’s translation 
of the Bible, put into the hands of 
the common people, was the begin- 
ning of the’ greatness of the British 
kingdom. The textbook of the 
Christian Church has had a _ pro- 
founder influence in the history of 
the United States of America than 
all the ancient classics combined. 
In America only twenty-five per 
cent of the young men are members 
of the Christian Church, but this 
one fourth of the young manhood 
of the country furnishes more than 
three fourths of all the students 
enrolled in American colleges and 
universities. Every student of early 
American history is familiar with 
128 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


the fact that the church and the 
schoolhouse were the first public 
buildings erected in every new set- 
tlement. In China and in all other 
non-Christian lands the Christian 
Church has been the pioneer in the 
promotion of the education of the 
common people. With China’s age- 
long veneration of learning, no seri- 
ous and successful attempt was ever 
made to enlighten the masses of 
the people until the gospel and the 
Christian Church came to China. 
The inspiration of the mass-educa- 
tion movement in China and of the 
development of the _ public-school 
system of the country is in no 
small degree due to the influence 
of the Christian Church. Wherever 
the new life comes into men’s hearts, 
the desire for knowledge is awakened 
in their minds. The life of Christ, 
the Head of the church, is_ the 
light of learning, the world around. 
129 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


In spite of the fanaticism and in- 
tolerance of individual churchmen, 
now and again, the faith of the 
church and modern science are not 
foes. To declare that the church 
as an institution is opposed to science 
and to the enlightenment of the 
masses is to advertise one’s ignorance 
of the history of the church and of 
modern civilization. Simply in the 
interest of popular education alone 
you can better afford to close all 
the schools of the land than to close 
the Christian churches. And_ be- 
cause the Church of Jesus Christ 
has been and still is the mightiest 
factor in fostering culture and the 
love of learning and in promoting 
the enlightenment of the masses, 
I believe in the Church of Jesus 
Christ. 

Third. From the beginning of its 
history until the present the church 
has been a dynamic force for good 

130 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


morals and the creating of orderly 
society. The church is the high- 
est conscience of the community. 
It represents the most enlightened 
moral sense in society. From the 
point of view of promoting the 
moral virtues, which are the founda- 
tion of prosperous business and 
stable government, the service of the 
church is indispensable. A promi- 
nent American publicist declared 
recently that the fundamentals of 
business prosperity are the old- 
fashioned virtues of honesty, truth 
speaking, and fair play. A ‘,con- 
siderable degree of honesty is neces- 
sary in order to hold together human 
society. There is no more potent 
factor in the community in the pro- 
motion of those moral qualities which 
are essential to civilized communities 
and a peaceful social order than the 
Christian Church. 

The moral influence of the Church 

131 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


of Christ in the development of 
personal character and orderly so- 
ciety grows first of all out of its 
teaching. From childhood to old 
age the church is sounding in men’s 
ears the “Thou shalts’” and the 
“Thou shalt nots” of Almighty God. 
The standard of human conduct and 
of social behavior which the church 
is evermore presenting is the life 
of Jesus. The church is calling 
upon men to live Jesus’ kind of 
life. It is saying to every new 
generation: “You are to reproduce, 
under the changed conditions of 
your own time, the spirit of the life 
of Jesus.” The moral educative 
value of the teaching of the Ten 
Commandments and the Sermon on 
the Mount is unmatched in making 
for the right life of individuals and 
for an orderly society. There is no 
other force in the community so 
potent in the restraint of vice and 
132 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


crime and in the maintenance of 
law and order as the Christian 
Church. The judge of the Supreme 
Court in one of the commonwealths 
of the United States said it would 
not be possible to execute the laws 
of the land, whether municipal, ' 
State, or national, but for the influ- 
ence of the teachings of religion 
in the Christian churches. A former 
chief of police in New York City 
said it would be impossible for 
all the policemen in the world to 
maintain order in New York but 
for the influence of the Christian 
pulpits in the city. Close the Chris- 
tian churches of any Western nation 
and you would immediately open 
the flood gates of vice and outlawry 
of every sort. Men no sooner cease 
to hear the voice of God command- 
ing them in righteousness than they 
tend to become lawless. Men no 
sooner lose God out of their world 
133 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


than they become moral anarchists. 
There is no need of the present-day 
world that is so imperative as the 
need of deepening men’s sense of 
personal obligation to the God of 
righteousness. If you would make 
business honest, if you would estab- 
lish just industrial relations among 
men, if international good will and 
peace are ever to come, men must 
hear the voice of the church inter- 
preting to them the will and the 
ways of a righteous God. 

It has become tragically evident 
during the past ten years that the 
peace of the world cannot be main- 
tained by physical force, however 
powerful. No walls are strong 
enough to resist the attack of in- 
vading force. No treaties are bind- 
ing enough to guarantee the rights 
of nations. No League of Nations 
will secure to the signatories inter- 
national justice. The peace of the 

134 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


world waits upon men of good will. 
There is no protection of the rights 
of the individual, there is no security 
for human society, there is no per- 
manency of free institutions except 
on the basis of good morals inspired 
by true religion. Multiply in the 
cities of China Christian churches, 
and you may pull down with safety 
every city wall. Let the people 
hear the voice of God _ speaking 
through the teaching of righteous- 
ness, justice and kindness and you 
have the surest guarantee of peace 
and prosperity throughout the land. 
But there can be neither prosperous 
trade nor permanent government 
without law and order. True respect 
for property and life rises out of 
the conviction of the sacredness of 
both life and property as the gift 
of God. I believe in the Church 
of Jesus Christ because it is indis- 
pensable both to the higher life of 
135 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


the individual and to the social 
welfare of the community. 

There is a fourth commanding 
claim for the Christian Church in 
China. It exalts the human values. 
The cheapest thing in China is 
human life. In the eyes of the 
church human life is the most 
precious thing in the world. When 
Jesus in the synagogue claimed the 
words of the ancient prophecy ful- 
filled in himself, he announced the 
greatest charter of human rights 
ever proclaimed: 


“The Spirit of the Lord is upon 

me, 

Because he anointed me to preach 
good tidings to the poor: 

He hath sent me to proclaim re- 
lease to the captives, 

And recovering of sight to the blind, 

To set at liberty them that are 
bruised, 

To proclaim the acceptable year of 
the Lord.” 

136 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


All the principles of political de- 
mocracy, all the movements for 
industrial justice, all the social ser- 
vice efforts of modern times, find 
their inspiration and driving mo- 
tive in Jesus’ ministry to human 
need for the sake of the love of 
God. The Christian Church is the 
perpetual incarnation of that spirit. 
First, last, and always the church 
stands for the rights of man as 
man, without any of the artificial 
or superficial distinctions of race, 
class, wealth, or culture. 

Near the entrance in the corridor 
of Johns Hopkins University Hos- 
pital in the city of Baltimore, stands 
a gigantic figure of the Christ in 
marble. There is a look of tender 
sympathy even in the face of stone. 
The arms are extended and the 
hands outspread as if welcoming 
the multitudes. On the base of 
the pedestal are inscribed his own 

A137 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


words: “Come unto me, all ye that 
labor and are heavy laden, and I 
will give you rest.” When I first 
saw this statue of the Christ I 
wondered why it was placed there 
—the first thing one would see upon 
crossing the threshold of the hos- 
pital. Later, when I came to know 
some of the eminent physicians and 
surgeons and the nurses who cared 
for the suffering with tender skill, 
my wonder was answered. I found 
in this home of healing the rich 
from far, and the poor from the 
near-by streets and alleys, all alike 
treated with the same skill and 
devotion. Without respect to wealth 
or race or position, every physician 
and nurse were answering with self- 
forgetful devotion the call of human 
need. It was the spirit. of Jesus 
reincarnate throughout the great 
hospital. 

That is a parable. Wherever the 

138 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


Christian Church has been planted, 
hospitals for the sick, homes for 
the helpless, and a hundred tender 
ministries to human need have 
sprung up. 

The Christian Church is the only 
institution that makes no distinc- 
tion in its ministry to men. It is 
the. very genius of democracy. Its 
doors swing wide open to rich and 
poor alike, to the ignorant and 
learned, to the social nobodys and 
the social somebodys. In one of 
the Christian schools of China are 
three girls of promise. They were 
homeless little beggars on the street. 
They were led by the hand of the 
church into a home and school to 
be educated. Such ministries are 
not exceptional. The spirit of Jesus 
in the Christian Church is calling 
men and women of all races and 
classes and kinds, ““Come unto me, 
all ye that labor and are heavy 

139 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


laden, and I will give you rest.” 
This is the voice that China’s mil- 
lions need to hear. Because the 
Church of Christ places supreme 
value upon every man as a child 
of God I prize my membership in 
the church above that of any other 
organization or institution. 

What of its future in China and 
in the world? If it continues to 
proclaim its message of the love of 
God, if it declares the teaching of 
Jesus with fidelity to the truth 
without servility to the forms of 
truth, if 1t evermore calls men to 
the ancient morality of justice, kind- 
ness, and humility before God, if it 
becomes in very fact a society of 
love for the service of men, it will 
meet the world’s greatest need. And 
for a thousand ages men will sing 
in an everswelling chorus, 


“T love thy kingdom, Lord, 
The house of thine abode, 
140 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


The church our blest Redeemer 
saved 
With his own precious blood.” 


Because the Christian Church 
stands for the reality and value of 
the things of the Spirit, making 
God known to men; because it is 
the mightiest force for the awak- 
ening of men’s minds and for the 
spread of useful knowledge; because 
it has ever been the inspiration of 
good morals and the bulwark of 
orderly society; because it exalts 
the value of man as a child of the 
Eternal God, I owe to the Church 
of Christ my love, my loyalty, my 
life. 


141 


CHAPTER VII 
A NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


“East is East and West is West.” 
It was inevitable the twain should 
meet. For the past four hundred 
years the contacts have been closer 
and closer until now the world has 
shriveled into a small community. 
It is not strange that nations with 
different racial traditions and feel- 
ings, with different civilizations and 
cultures, with different arts and 
religions should clash. The East 
and the West are now in process 
of becoming acquainted and learn- 
ing to live together. 

The first impression which the 
West made upon the East was the 
strength of Western | civilization 
through the development of material 
resources by means of modern sci- 

142 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


ence. When China saw the power 
and prosperity of Western nations 
she abandoned the old classical sys- 
tem of education and introduced 
Western learning. She established 
a public-school system fashioned 
largely after that of Germany and 
Japan. The political system of the 
country was cast in an American 
mold. Through the influence chiefly 
of Great Britain an admirable sys- 
tem of maritime customs, postal, 
and telegraph service has been de- 
veloped. The mass-education move- 
ment is being rapidly extended, even 
to the coolies. The two hundred 
million feet-bound women of China 
are slowly being liberated from more 
than one kind of bondage. The 
popular superstitions of the Chinese 
religion are being dissipated through 
the spread of modern science and 
Christian truth. The social ideals 
and national aspirations which are 
143 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


the by-product of Christianity are 
sweeping through the country with 
convulsive violence. China is now 
in process of assimilating Western 
learning, democratic principles of 
government, new social standards, 
and the ideals of the Christian 
religion. 

At the same time China has 
made no inconsiderable contribution 
to the West. Both paper-making 
and printing have come to the West 
from China. Her treasures of art 
are enriching the imagination of the 
West. It is probable that China 
invented the compass which is now 
guiding the ships of the world to 
her shores. But the gain of mutual 
exchange of material and spiritual 
commodities is not fully appreciated 
either by the East or West. Each 
has much to give the other in trade, 
in international relations, in philan- 
thropic and religious endeavor on 

144 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


the basis of mutual respect and 
good will. 

There 1s grave danger in the 
present situation that Western na- 
tions will become impatient with the 
political chaos, the economic weak- 
ness, and the moral inertia of the 
country. On the other hand, there 
is equal danger that the Chinese 
will seize upon the physical sciences 
as the secret of Western progress 
and become militaristic in govern- 
ment and naturalistic in philosophy. 
There are also signs of a growing 
disrespect for foreigners and con- 
tempt for Western civilization. In 
this the Chinese have had no small 
provocation. The greatest barrier 
to the Christianizing of China has 
been the unseemly contacts with 
Western nationals. But there can 
be no greater calamity to East or 
West than to fail to solve the prob- 
lem of living together in a spirit 

145 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


of good will, each giving to the 
other its best. 

What of the future? It is un- 
thinkable that China with a civil- 
ization that has persisted through 
changing dynasties for four millen- 
niums will not some day be one of 
the powerful progressive nations of 
the world. By what road she is to 
come to her providential place in 
the family of the nations is far from 
clear. But these things are certain 
—the strangle-hold of militarism 
must be broken. A million and a 
half soldiers under arms are suck- 
ing the life-blood out of the country, 
making no constructive contribution 
whatever to the public welfare. A 
responsible government, free from 
shameless intrigue and corruption, 
must be established. China’s ninety 
per cent illiterates must be given 
the fundamentals of education. Her 
millions who are now satisfied “to 

146 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


toil untiringly for a bare living” 
must be fired with a passion to 
improve their lot. The soul of the 
people must be awakened with a 
new sense of social responsibility. 
In his admirable book, China and 
the West, Professor W. E. Soothill 
well says: “The need of China is a 
new soul in her men of capacity. 
She has millions willing to die for 
her, but few in high places willing 
with a single mind to live for her.”’ 
A stable government cannot be 
established by pronunciamentos. 
Official mandates do not bring in 
order and peace. The merchants 
and scholars and statesmen of China 
must rise up and deliver their 
country from ambitious militarists 
and political pirates. China’s great 
ones must tread the road of  self- 
sacrifice and public service.” 
Whasmust China do to be saved? 
She must rebuild the foundation of 
147 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


her government upon personal in- 
tegrity, public righteousness, and 
true humanity. The leaders of the 
country must have an awakening 
of their moral sense. The people 
must learn that righteousness alone 
exalteth a nation and that peace 
and prosperity are the fruitage of 
morality and religion. 

For fifteen long years China has 
been torn by civil strife and by 
revolution. Every year is becoming 
bloodier. ‘The burden of the poor 
is becoming heavier. The oppres- 
sion of militarists and the indiffer- 
ence of the wealthy are fast driving 
the country to ruin. Nationalism 
will not save China. “‘Patriotism is 
not enough.” Religion is the one 
hope of the land. And religion that 
centers in and flows from God. One 
of China’s foremost scholars said 
recently, “I am an atheist, but I 
am religious.” There is little help 

148 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


for China in a religion that has 
no God in it. The present greatest 
need of the country is the religion 
of Jesus Christ. There are minor 
needs that must be met promptly 
and courageously. The treaties with 
foreign nations should be revised. 
Industrial methods and economic 
practices must be squared with jus- 
tice. The standard of living must 
be raised. A score of other needs 
are crying aloud in the name of 
humanity. But China’s major need 
can be met only by religion. The 
demons which are tormenting her 
millions most are greed for money, 
blind superstition, race prejudice, 
national antagonism; and these de- 
mons can be cast out only by the 
power of true religion. China is 
in a state of political chaos and of 
moral decadence, because she has 
no adequate religious foundations. 


China’s supreme need is God. 
149 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


A renewed mind is at once China’s 
greatest need and surest hope. How 
is the mind of an individual or 
nation to be transformed except in 
obedience to the apostolic injunc- 
tion—““Be ye transformed by the 
renewing of your mind, that ye may 
prove what is that good, and ac- 
ceptable, and perfect will of God’’? 
Her educated youth must give their 
full measure of devotion that China 
may be saved. But the only power 
that can purge the land of its 
appalling iniquities and establish the 
nation in intelligent freedom is true 
religion. In a brilliant study of 
Western civilization, Hu Shih sum- 
marizes his conclusions in the state- 
ment that “it is impossible for the 
civilizations of the East, whose chief 
characteristic is contentment, ever 
to satisfy the spiritual demands of 
mankind. Only a veritable ideal- 


istic civilization, whose motive force 
150 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


is a divine discontent, will be able 
to satisfy man’s spiritual needs.” 
But we need to remember that the 
political freedom of the eighteenth 
century and the social movement of 
the nineteenth century were born 
in the ideals of the gospel of Christ. 
The only power that can sustain 
these great humanitarian movements 
is the religion of the Man of Galilee. 
“In him was life; and that life was 
the light of men.” The greatest 
contribution which the West can 
make to the East is the gift which 
the East first brought to the West 
—the gospel of Jesus Christ. He 
is the Desire of the nations. 

That China will be saved is cer- 
tain. The God of nations will not 
leave this ancient and mighty people 
to the monstrous outrages of sol- 
diers, brigands, and corruptionists. 
The future of world civilization is 


bound up inseparably with what 
151 


THE NEW SOUL IN CHINA 


China does in the next fifty years. 
And what China does in the next 
fifty years depends upon the trans- 
formation of her mind, the finding 
of a new soul. When the people 
find God—the God who is seen in 
the face of Jesus Christ—they will 
get a new soul. That will make 
the New China. 


152 





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The new soul in China, 


eton Theological Seminary—Speer 


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1 1012 00018 8179 





